title: Are lung disease and function related to age-related macular degeneration?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the relationship of lung disease and function with early age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a population-based study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A population-based, cross-sectional study of 12,596 middle-aged participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Lung function was assessed by spirometry. Physician diagnosis of asthma and lung disease was ascertained from a standardized questionnaire. AMD signs were graded from fundus photographs according to the Wisconsin grading protocol.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the study population, 587 (4.7%) had early AMD, 638 (5.1%) had asthma, and 581 (4.6%) had lung disease. After adjusting for age, gender, smoking, and hypertension, each 1-L increase in predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (odds ratio [OR], 1.27; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.89 to 1.80), forced vital capacity (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.93 to 1.51), and peak expiratory flow rate (OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.95 to 1.33) were not significantly associated with early AMD. Forced expiratory volume in 1 second-to-forced vital capacity ratio (second quartile OR, 1.61; 95% CI, 0.88 to 2.93, third quartile OR, 1.65; 95% CI 0.90 to 3.03; fourth quartile OR, 1.28; 95% CI 0.68 to 2.40) was not associated significantly with early AMD. Similarly, asthma (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.86 to 1.27) and other lung diseases (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 0.90 to 1.29) were not associated with early AMD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data do not support a cross-sectional association between lung disease and risk of early AMD.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moorthy
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shahar
authors.forename: Tien Y
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010781:Photography; D013147:Spirometry; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires