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Retina
Association between age-related macular degeneration and risk of incident cancer
  1. Junhee Park1,
  2. Wonyoung Jung2,
  3. Kyungdo Han3,
  4. Bongseong Kim3,
  5. Seung-Yeon Lee4,
  6. Je Moon Yoon5,
  7. Dong Hui Lim5,6,
  8. Dong Wook Shin1,6
  1. 1 Family Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of)
  2. 2 Family Medicine, Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of)
  3. 3 Statistics and Actuarial Science, Soongsil University, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of)
  4. 4 Family medicine/ International Health care center, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea (the Republic of)
  5. 5 Ophthalmology, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of)
  6. 6 Clinical Research Design & Evaluation and Digital Health, Samsung Advanced Insitute for Health Sicences & Technology (SAIHST), Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of)
  1. Correspondence to Dr Dong Hui Lim; ldhlse{at}gmail.com; Professor Dong Wook Shin; dwshin.md{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Background/aims Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cancer may share similar risk factors, indicating possible common pathogenic pathways. We aimed to describe the site-specific cancer risk based on the relationship of AMD with visual disability (VD) status.

Methods This was a population-based cohort study using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database (2009–2019) including patients who participated in a national health screening programme in 2009. The subjects were categorised based on the presence of AMD and VD. The occurrence of cancer was identified using principal diagnosis according to the International Classification of Disease, 10th revision codes in claims data. The Cox regression hazard model was used to compare HRs of site-specific cancer.

Results Among 4 088 814 participants, 51 596 had AMD of which 3683 subjects had VD. The mean follow-up period was 9.6 years. The overall cancer risk was generally null, but the risk of hypervascular cancer such as thyroid cancer (adjusted HR (aHR) 1.10, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.20) and renal cancer (aHR 1.16, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.33) was higher and the risk of stomach cancer (aHR 0.89, 95% CI 0.84 to 0.94) was lower in the AMD group than in the non-AMD group.

Conclusion This study demonstrated a possible association between AMD and several cancers. Increased renal and thyroid cancer risk among patients with AMD could indicate that AMD is associated with hypervascular cancer. Further studies in which additional databases are used and the underlying detailed mechanisms evaluated are needed to validate our results.

  • Macula
  • Degeneration
  • Vision
  • Neoplasia

Data availability statement

Data are available on reasonable request. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Korean National Health Insurance Service (KNHIS) and were used under licence for the current study (http://nhiss.nhis.or.kr). Restrictions apply to their availability (data are not publicly available). Data are available from the authors with permission of the KNHIS on reasonable request.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjo-2023-323874

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available on reasonable request. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Korean National Health Insurance Service (KNHIS) and were used under licence for the current study (http://nhiss.nhis.or.kr). Restrictions apply to their availability (data are not publicly available). Data are available from the authors with permission of the KNHIS on reasonable request.

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    Footnotes

    • DHL and DWS contributed equally.

    • Contributors JP, DWH and DHL conceived the idea for the report and prepared the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the analysis of the data and critical revisions of the manuscript. DWS and DHL was responsible for the overall content as the guarantor.

    • Funding This research was partially supported by a grant from the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number: HI20C1073).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.