title: The rate of myocardial infarction events among patients with age-related macular degeneration: a population-based study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the association between age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and the risk of myocardial infarctions (MIs) in a large health maintenance organization.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective cohort study carried out at Maccabi Healthcare Services (MHS).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 6,546 patients aged ≥65 years who were diagnosed with AMD between April 18 1996 and June 6 2008, and 61,672 non-AMD patients frequency-matched for age and gender.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were retrospectively followed to the day of leaving the MHS, to undergoing an MI, or to closure of the study on July 1 2008, whichever came earlier. The relative risk of MI associated with AMD was estimated using the Cox proportional hazard model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Incident myocardial infarction events.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the study period, there were 159 (5.1 per 1,000 person years [PY]) and 2,997 (4.2 per 1,000 PY) MIs respectively in the AMD and non-AMD patient groups. The age- and gender-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of MI among AMD patients was 1.01 (95%CI: 0.85-1.20). Baseline medical characteristics associated with increased risk of mortality included diabetes mellitus, hypertension, older age, and male gender. The fully adjusted HR associated with AMD was 1.03 (95%CI: 0.87-1.22).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite the shared risk factors associated with AMD and MIs, we found no increased risk of MI in AMD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, 6 Weizman Street, Tel Aviv, 64239, Israel. shanigol2@walla.com
authors.forename: Shani
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Golan
authors.forename: Varda
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Shalev
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.forename: Giora
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Treister
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chodick
authors.forename: Anat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loewenstein
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D015897:Comorbidity; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D015994:Incidence; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors