AMD epidemic will continue to challenge ophthalmologists
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
PHILADELPHIA — The epidemic of age-related macular degeneration is expected to increase, according to a speaker here.
“By 2040, there will be 288 million people who will be affected, so this is a daunting task for us to look after such patients,” Emily Y. Chew, MD, said during the Irving H. Leopold Lecture at the Wills Eye Conference.
Chew discussed study results from the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), AREDS2 and other analyses related to AMD. Results from AREDS2 suggest that the replacement of beta-carotene supplements with lutein and zeaxanthin reduces the risk for lung cancer associated with beta-carotene. Additionally, high adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with decreased progression to intermediate AMD, late AMD and cognitive impairment. Analyses suggest that eating fish twice a week appears to be an important factor for this association.
There is a bidirectional association between AMD and cognitive impairment, as well as an association between Charles Bonnet syndrome with late AMD and reasonably good visual acuity, Chew said. For this reason, it is important for ophthalmologists to inform patients of Charles Bonnet symptoms to reduce fears of dementia or psychiatric disease.
Moving forward, artificial intelligence may be an important step in AMD research.
“We still have a long way to go to get it to health care, but it will not replace ophthalmologists,” Chew said. “We will always still have a job, and it is really important to understand that this will help us do a better job and help our patients.”
Collapse
Chew EY. Irving H. Leopold Lecture: Age-related macular degeneration: What have we learned from the age-related eye disease study (AREDS) and AREDS2? Presented at: Wills Eye Conference; March 10-12, 2022; Philadelphia.
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts