title: Early age-related macular degeneration in patients with myocardial infarction.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the prevalence of early age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Enrolled in the study were 262 acute MI patients (MI group), aged 40-64 years, as well as 1,155 non-MI persons, aged 40-64 years, from a random sample (reference group) of the Kaunas population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of early AMD in the random sample was 7.3%, while in MI patients, the prevalence was 54.5% (P < 0.001). For all age groups, the prevalence of early AMD was significantly (P < 0.005) higher in MI patients than in reference-group persons. In the reference group, the prevalence of early AMD increased significantly with age, whereas no such trend was observed in the MI group. At the 45- to 54-year-olds, the prevalence was significantly higher in males than in females (9.9% vs. 3.7%; P < 0.05) in the reference group, while overall, the prevalence of early AMD in the males and females of the much larger reference group was 8.6% versus 6.2%, respectively (P > 0.05). It increased more with age for females (3.7% and 10.8% at the age 45-54 and 55-64 years, P < 0.05, respectively) while in males, frequency of AMD did not differ significantly between latter age groups (9.9% vs. 11.6%; P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that the prevalence of early AMD is significantly higher in patients with MI than in a random sample of the population.
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Medicine Academy, Kaunas, Lithuania. rliutkeviciene@gmail.com
authors: Rasa
authors: R
authors: Liutkeviciene
authors: Vaiva
authors: V
authors: Lesauskaite
authors: Dalia
authors: D
authors: Zaliuniene
authors: Diana
authors: D
authors: Zaliaduonyte-Peksiene
authors: Andrius
authors: A
authors: Cimbalas
authors: Vytautas
authors: V
authors: Jasinskas
authors: Olivija
authors: O
authors: Gustiene
authors: Sandrita
authors: S
authors: Simonytė
authors: Abdonas
authors: A
authors: Tamosiunas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008097:Lithuania / Q000453:epidemiology; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution; D019210:Troponin I / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D019210:Troponin I