The Five-year Incidence and Progression of Age-related Maculopathy: The Beaver Dam Eye Study

doi:10.1016/S0161-6420(97)30368-6

Ophthalmology

Volume 104, Issue 1, January 1997, Pages 7-21

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0161-6420(97)30368-6 Get rights and content

Purpose: The aim of the study was to describe the incidence and progression of retinal drusen, retinal pigmentary abnormalities, and signs of late age-related maculopathy.

Population: A population of 3583 adults (range, 43–86 years of age at baseline) living in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, was studied during a 5-year period.

Methods: Characteristics of drusen and other lesions typical of age-related maculopathy were determined by grading stereoscopic color fundus photographs using the Wisconsin Age-Related Maculopathy Grading System.

Results: There was a statistically significant increased incidence of age-related maculopathy lesions with age (P < 0.05). Individuals 75 years of age or older had a significantly (P < 0.01) higher 5-year incidence of the following characteristics than people 43 to 54 years of age: larger sized drusen (125–249 μm,17.6% vs. 2.1 %; ≥ 250 μm, 6.5% vs. 0.2%), soft indistinct drusen (16.3% vs.1.8%), retinal pigment abnormalities (12.9% vs. 0.9%), exudative macular degeneration (1.8% vs. 0%), and pure geographic atrophy (1.7% vs. 0%). After adjusting for age, the incidence of early age-related maculopathy was 2.2 times (95% confidence interval 1.6, 3.2) as likely in women 75 years of age or older compared with men this age. At follow-up, late age-related macular degeneration was more likely to develop in eyes with soft indistinct drusen (6.5% vs. 0.1%) or retinal pigmentary abnormalities (7.1% vs. 0.1%) at baseline than in eyes without these lesions.

Conclusions: These population-based estimates document the high incidence of signs of age-related maculopathy in people 75 years of age or older, and in women compared with men that age. The findings demonstrate that the presence of soft drusen and pigmentary abnormalities significantly increases the risk for the development of geographic atrophy and exudative macular degeneration.

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: Supported by National Institutes of Health grant EY06594 (Drs. R. Klein and B. E. K. Klein) and in part by the Research to Prevent Blindness (Senior Scientific Investigator Award, Dr. R. Klein), New York, New York. The authors have no proprietary interest in any of the products or equipment mentioned in this article.

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The Five-year Incidence and Progression of Age-related Maculopathy: The Beaver Dam Eye Study

The Framingham Eye Study monograph: an ophthalmological and epidemiological study of cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, and visual acuity in a general population of 2631 adults, 1973-1975

Surv Ophthalmol

Eye conditions and related need for medical care among persons 1–74 years of age: United States, 1971-72. Vital and Health Statistics. Series 11

Racial differences in the cause-specific prevalence of blindness in east Baltimore

N Engl J Med

The relationship of age-related maculopathy, cataract, and glaucoma to visual acuity

Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci

Drusen and disciform macular detachment and degeneration

Arch Ophthalmol

Senile disciform macular degeneration in the second eye

Br J Ophthalmol

The second eye of patients with senile macular degeneration

Arch Ophthalmol

Prognosis of patients with bilateral macular drusen

Ophthalmology

Bilateral macular drusen in age-related macular degeneration

Prognosis and risk factors. Ophthalmology

Natural course in fellow eyes of patients with unilateral age-related exudative maculopathy. A fluorescein angiographic 4-year follow-up of 45 patients

Acta Ophthalmol

Second eye involvement in agerelated macular degeneration: a four-year prospective study

Eye

Choroidal neovascularization in second eyes of patients with unilateral exudative age-related macular degeneration

Ophthalmology

Relationship of drusen and abnormalities of the retinal pigment epithelium to the prognosis of neovascular macular degeneration

Arch Ophthalmol

Controlled trial of laser photocoagulation of pigment epithelial detachments in the elderly: 4 year review

Br J Ophthalmol

Five-year followup of fellow eyes of patients with age-related macular degeneration and unilateral extrafoveal Choroidal neovascularization

Arch Ophthalmol

Ageing and degeneration in the macular region: a clinico-pathological study

Br J Ophthalmol

Softening of drusen and subretinal neovascularization

Trans Ophthalmol Soc U K

Evolution of geographic atrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium

Eye

Age-related changes in the ultrastructure of Bruch's membrane

Am J Ophthalmol

Age-related macular degeneration histopathologic studies

Ophthalmology

Histologic features of the early stages of age-related macular degeneration

Ophthalmology

Five-year incidence and disappearance of drusen and retinal pigment epithelial abnormalities

Waterman Study. Arch Ophthalmol