title: Smoking history and the incidence of age-related macular degeneration--results from the Muenster Aging and Retina Study (MARS) cohort and systematic review and meta-analysis of observational longitudinal studies.
abstract: To compare the association of smoking with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the Muenster Aging and Retina Study (MARS) cohort with current evidence. Adjusted risk ratios for incident AMD in MARS were compared with findings of a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational prospective studies. 9.6% of MARS participants progressed to AMD over a median of 30.9 months. In MARS the adjusted risk ratio in current versus never smokers was 3.25 (95% confidence interval [1.50-7.06]), and 1.28 [0.70-2.33] in former smokers versus never smokers. The meta-analysis of previous studies showed a pooled adjusted risk ratio of 2.51 [1.09-5.76] in current versus never smokers. Inclusion of the MARS findings removed between-study heterogeneity and accentuated the pooled adjusted risk ratio for current smokers to 2.75 [1.52-4.98]. Specific analyses in MARS revealed a protective effect for time since smoking cessation in former smokers with an adjusted risk ratio=0.50 [0.29-0.89] per log(year). Current smoking nearly triples AMD incidence, while smoking cessation lowers AMD incidence in a non-linear fashion even in the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology Section, University of Muenster, 48149 Muenster, Germany. neuner@uni-muenster.de
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Neuner
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Komm
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wellmann
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dietzel
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pauleikhoff
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Busch
authors.forename: Hans-Werner
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Hense
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data