Doubles the risk of AMD smoking

Doubles the risk of developing smoking-related macular degeneration with age (AMD) which is the leading cause of blindness after age 50, shows a British study published in the "British Journal of Ophthalmology."

AMD affect about 200,000 people aged 75 and older in the United Kingdom and its treatment is very difficult.

To identify prevention strategies, Professor Astrid Fletcher, Centre for Public Health and Ageing to the Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London University, and colleagues conducted a study as part of the test MRC (Medical Research Council), which is a representative sample of 4,000 people aged 75 and older recruited from 49 UK general practice firms.

Participants underwent various tests and were asked about their habits of smoking.

After taking into account other risk factors such as alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease, the results show that smokers prove twice as likely as nonsmokers to suffer from AMD (relative risk 2,15).

For former smokers, the excess risk did not appear significant, while those who had stopped smoking for more than twenty years no longer had any of the excess risk compared to non-smokers.

Overall, the level of the UK population, the authors calculated that 28,000 cases of AMD could be attributed to smoking.

"This excess risk of AMD, which is the leading cause of blindness in the United Kingdom, is one more reason to quit smoking and to develop public health campaigns on this issue," the authors conclude.