title: Dietary ω-3 fatty acid and fish intake and incident age-related macular degeneration in women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether intake of ω-3 fatty acids and fish affects incidence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in women.
  
  
  METHODS
  A detailed food-frequency questionnaire was administered at baseline among 39 876 female health professionals (mean [SD] age: 54.6 [7.0] years). A total of 38 022 women completed the questionnaire and were free of a diagnosis of AMD. The main outcome measure was incident AMD responsible for a reduction in best-corrected visual acuity to 20/30 or worse based on self-report confirmed by medical record review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 235 cases of AMD, most characterized by some combination of drusen and retinal pigment epithelial changes, were confirmed during an average of 10 years of follow-up. Women in the highest tertile of intake for docosahexaenoic acid, compared with those in the lowest, had a multivariate-adjusted relative risk of AMD of 0.62 (95% confidence interval, 0.44-0.87). For eicosapentaenoic acid, women in the highest tertile of intake had a relative risk of 0.66 (95% confidence interval, 0.48-0.92). Consistent with the findings for docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid, women who consumed 1 or more servings of fish per week, compared with those who consumed less than 1 serving per month, had a relative risk of AMD of 0.58 (95% confidence interval, 0.38-0.87).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These prospective data from a large cohort of female health professionals without a diagnosis of AMD at baseline indicate that regular consumption of docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid and fish was associated with a significantly decreased risk of incident AMD and may be of benefit in primary prevention of AMD.
authors.affiliation: Divisions of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. wchristen@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Christen
authors.forename: Debra A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Schaumberg
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Glynn
authors.forename: Julie E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Buring
mesh_terms: D004032:Diet; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017747:Seafood; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D016387:Women's Health
chemical_list: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3