title: Overall diet quality and age-related macular degeneration.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine overall diet quality in relation to advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
  
  
  METHODS
  This case-control study identified 437 advanced AMD patients and 259 unrelated controls using stereoscopic color fundus photographs. Participants were predominantly non-Hispanic White men and women from North Carolina and Tennessee. A 97-item Block food frequency questionnaire was used to gather diet information, and overall diet quality was measured using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants in the highest quartile of diet quality had significantly reduced odds of AMD according to the AHEI score (0.54, 95% confidence interval 0.30-0.99) and non-significantly reduced odds of AMD according to the HEI (0.75, 0.41-1.38). Odds of AMD were also 51% lower in the highest quartile of fish intake compared to the lowest quartile (odds ratio = 0.49, 0.26-0.90).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found that advanced AMD was significantly related to overall diet quality. The AHEI score may be a useful instrument for assessing AMD risk due to diet, and it could potentially be improved by incorporating more specific information regarding micronutrient intake.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Martha P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Montgomery
authors.forename: Freya
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kamel
authors.forename: Margaret A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pericak-Vance
authors.forename: Jonathan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Haines
authors.forename: Eric A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Postel
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: William K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015930:Diet Records; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009657:North Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013714:Tennessee / Q000453:epidemiology