title: Prevalence of age-related macular degeneration in a Malay population: the Singapore Malay Eye Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the prevalence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in an Asian Malay population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Population-based cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  An age-stratified random sample of Malay persons aged 40 to 80 years living in Singapore.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were invited to a central clinic for a comprehensive examination.
  
  
  METHODS
  Early and late AMD signs were graded from retinal photographs following the Wisconsin grading system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 3280 participants who participated (78.7% response rate), 3265 had photographs of sufficient quality for grading of AMD signs. Early and late AMD were present in 160 (4.9%) and 23 (0.70%) participants, respectively. After age standardization, the prevalence of early AMD in Malay persons aged 40 to 80 years was estimated to be 3.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.9%-4.1%) and that of late AMD was 0.34% (95% CI, 0.20%-0.49%). Early AMD was more prevalent in men than in women (6.1% vs. 3.8%); this was significant despite adjusting for age and smoking (odds ratio [OR], 1.56; 95% CI, 1.11-2.20). Late AMD also was more prevalent in men than in women (1.0% vs. 0.4%), although this was not statistically significant after adjusting for age and smoking (OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 0.52-3.68). The prevalence of early and late AMD was similar to that reported in the Blue Mountains Eye Study among white persons.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of AMD in Asian Malay people is similar to that in white persons from the Blue Mountains Eye Study. Early AMD signs were more frequent in men compared with women, an association that was not fully explained by the higher smoking rates in men.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
authors.forename: Jie Jin
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Tin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aung
authors.forename: Donald T H
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Mya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sandar
authors.forename: Seang-Mei
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Saw
authors.forename: Tien Y
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People / Q000208:ethnology*; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000097:blood / Q000145:classification / Q000208:ethnology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010781:Photography; D015995:Prevalence; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology; D014792:Visual Acuity
chemical_list: D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL