title: Association between aspirin use and age-related macular degeneration: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies to evaluate the association between aspirin use and age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
  
  
  METHODS
  The pertinent studies were identified via literature search through four databases (MEDLINE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase) and reference lists of retrieved studies. Randomized controlled trials and cohort and case-control studies meeting the predefined criteria were included. We extracted relative risk (RR) or odds ratio (OR) or hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) from each study. Overall and study-specific risk estimates were pooled using fixed-effects and random-effects models, respectively. Subgroup analyses based on several stratified factors were also performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, two RCTs, three cohort studies, and four case-control studies involving 177,683 subjects were included. The pooled effect of all nine studies showed no significant association between aspirin use and occurrence of AMD (RR, 1.00; 95% CI 0.96-1.04), and no significant association was observed in any specific study design (RR, 0.93; 95% CI 0.71-1.22 for RCT; RR, 1.02; 95% CI 0.87-1.20 for cohort study; RR, 1.00; 95% CI 0.96-1.04 for case-control study). However, subgroup analysis showed aspirin use to be significantly associated with an increased risk of neovascular AMD (RR, 1.59; 95% CI 1.09-2.31).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The pooled effects from current literature suggest that aspirin use is not associated with AMD, but it increased the risk of the neovascular form of AMD.
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, College of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors: Juan
authors: J
authors: Ye
authors: Yu-Feng
authors: YF
authors: Xu
authors: Jin-Jing
authors: JJ
authors: He
authors: Li-Xia
authors: LX
authors: Lou
mesh_terms: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000494:pharmacology; D001241:Aspirin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D015861:Retinal Neovascularization / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D001241:Aspirin
keywords: age-related macular degeneration; aspirin; meta-analysis