title: Lipids, lipid genes, and incident age-related macular degeneration: the three continent age-related macular degeneration consortium.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe associations of serum lipid levels and lipid pathway genes to the incidence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Meta-analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  setting: Three population-based cohorts. population: A total of 6950 participants from the Beaver Dam Eye Study (BDES), Blue Mountains Eye Study (BMES), and Rotterdam Study (RS). observation procedures: Participants were followed over 20 years and examined at 5-year intervals. Hazard ratios associated with lipid levels per standard deviation above the mean or associated with each additional risk allele for each lipid pathway gene were calculated using random-effects inverse-weighted meta-analysis models, adjusting for known AMD risk factors. main outcome measures: Incidence of AMD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average 5-year incidences of early AMD were 8.1%, 15.1%, and 13.0% in the BDES, BMES, and RS, respectively. Substantial heterogeneity in the effect of cholesterol and lipid pathway genes on the incidence and progression of AMD was evident when the data from the 3 studies were combined in meta-analysis. After correction for multiple comparisons, we did not find a statistically significant association between any of the cholesterol measures, statin use, or serum lipid genes and any of the AMD outcomes in the meta-analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In a meta-analysis, there were no associations of cholesterol measures, history of statin use, or lipid pathway genes to the incidence and progression of AMD. These findings add to inconsistencies in earlier reports from our studies and others showing weak associations, no associations, or inverse associations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and total cholesterol with AMD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin. Electronic address: kleinr@epi.ophth.wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin.
authors.forename: Chelsea E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gabriëlle H S
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Buitendijk
authors.affiliation: Centre for Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology and Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia; Clinical Ophthalmology & Eye Health, University of Sydney, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rochtchina
authors.affiliation: Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Xiaoyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Netherlands Institute of Neurosciences, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Department of Ophthalmology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Department of Ophthalmology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Paulus T V M
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.affiliation: Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
authors.forename: Theru A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Sivakumaran
authors.affiliation: Centre for Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology and Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia; Clinical Ophthalmology & Eye Health, University of Sydney, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Burlutsky
authors.affiliation: Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McKean-Cowdin
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Aging, Netherlands Genomics Initiative, the Hague, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hofman
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
authors.forename: Sudha K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Iyengar
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin.
authors.forename: Kristine E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bruno H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Stricker
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Johannes R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Vingerling
authors.affiliation: Clinical Ophthalmology & Eye Health, University of Sydney, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin.
authors.forename: Barbara E K
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Caroline C W
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Klaver
authors.affiliation: Centre for Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology and Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Jie Jin
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D018450:Disease Progression; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000235:genetics*; D008055:Lipids / Q000502:physiology*; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids