title: Macular degeneration.
abstract: Macular degeneration is a term that describes a large group of conditions that are collectively the most common cause of irreversible vision loss in the developed world. Approximately one in three people will be affected to some degree by the time they reach 75 years of age. Many forms of macular degeneration have a significant genetic component, and a large amount of progress has recently been made in understanding the genes involved. In the future, genetic testing may allow specific preventive treatments to be delivered to individuals at risk, decades before the disease would ordinarily become manifest.
authors.affiliation: The Carver Family Center for Macular Degeneration, The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa 52245, USA. edwin-stone@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: Edwin M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Stone
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D004032:Diet; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects