Association between Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Dementia: A Population-Based Case-Control Study in Taiwan

Background Heart failure (HF) is a major health problem worldwide because of its high morbidity and mortality. Recently, the role of the microvasculature in HF has gained more attention. Age‐related macular degeneration (AMD) is manifested through geographic atrophy or the development of neovascularization. However, there are limited data on investigations about the association between AMD and HF. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of AMD with the risk of HF in a large population‐based cohort of men and women. Methods and Results A nested case‐control study using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database was conducted between 2000 and 2012. Newly diagnosed heart failure cases (n=13 721) and matched controls (n=54 884) in the database were recruited. Patients who had ≥2 clinical visits with a diagnosis of AMD at least 1 year before the diagnosis of HF were identified as patients with AMD. Conditional logistic regressions were performed to calculate odds ratios and 95% CIs to assess the association between AMD and risk of HF. AMD was associated with a 1.58‐fold increased risk of HF (95% CI, 1.16–1.87) ( P <0.001) after adjustment for potential confounders. This significant association was evident in both nonexudative and exudative AMD subgroups. Conclusions Our study provides evidence that AMD was associated with an increased risk of HF. Further molecular and pathophysiological studies are needed to clarify the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms behind the association of AMD with HF.

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Age-related macular degeneration and premorbid allergic diseases: a population-based case–control study

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-95937-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yi-Chen Shen ◽

Ning-Yi Hsia ◽

Wan-Hua Wu ◽

Cheng-Li Lin ◽

Te-Chun Shen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Macular Degeneration ◽

Large Scale ◽

Case Control Study ◽

Allergic Diseases ◽

Population Based ◽

Case Control ◽

Age Related Macular Degeneration ◽

Eligibility Criteria ◽

Age Related ◽

Control Study

AbstractEvidence indicates that age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is associated with the prior presence of allergic diseases; however, large-scale studies in the literature are limited. A case–control study was conducted to describe the relationship between premorbid allergic diseases and AMD using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance database. Eligibility criteria for inclusion of new adult AMD cases from 2000 to 2013 were set up. We defined the year of diagnosis as the index year. Age-, gender-, index year- matched controls who were drawn from the same database. The case control ratio was 1:4. For all participants, all premorbid conditions staring 1996 to index year were documented. Binary logistic regression was used to describe factors related to AMD occurrence. The AMD group consisted of 10,911 patients, and the comparison group consisted of 43,644 individuals. Patients with AMD showed significant associations with premorbid allergic diseases (aOR 1.54, 95% CI 1.47–1.61), specifically with allergic conjunctivitis (aOR 2.07, 95% CI 1.94–2.20), allergic rhinitis (aOR 1.32, 95% CI 1.25–1.39), asthma (aOR 0.99, 95% CI 0.93–1.06), and atopic dermatitis (aOR 1.04, 95% CI 0.94–1.17). Further analyses indicated that patients with more concurrent allergic diseases have higher associations with AMD than those with fewer concurrent diseases. Patients with more annual medical visits for their allergic diseases also showed higher associations with AMD than those with fewer visits. AMD is significantly associated with premorbid allergic diseases. The underlying mechanisms must be further investigated.

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