title: Prevalence of Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Portugal: The Coimbra Eye Study - Report 1.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the age- and gender-specific prevalence of early and late age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a Portuguese population-based sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  All patients aged ≥55 years of a Portuguese primary health-care unit were recruited for a cross-sectional population-based study. Responders underwent complete ophthalmological examination and digital fundus imaging. Early and late AMD was defined according to the International Age-Related Macular Epidemiological Study Group Classification, and the adopted staging for AMD was the same as that used in the Rotterdam study. The age- and gender-adjusted prevalence of early and late forms of AMD was calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 4,370 eligible subjects, 3,000 underwent study procedures (68.6% response rate) and 2,975 were included in the analysis; they had a mean age of 68.9 ± 8.6 years. The overall prevalence of early and late AMD was 15.53% (95% CI 14.25-16.88) and 0.67% (95% CI 0.41-1.04), respectively. Neovascular AMD (NV-AMD) and geographic atrophy (GA) accounted for 0.44% (95% CI 0.23-0.75) and 0.27% (95% CI 0.12-0.53) of individuals, respectively. The highest prevalence of advanced AMD was among those aged ≥75 years (1.13% for NV-AMD; 0.63% for GA).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To our knowledge, this is the first AMD epidemiological study in a Portuguese population. The early forms of the disease had a similar prevalence to that of other large-scale population-based cohorts, but late AMD was less frequent than previously reported.
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors: Maria da Luz
authors: Mda L
authors: Cachulo
authors: Conceição
authors: C
authors: Lobo
authors: João
authors: J
authors: Figueira
authors: Luisa
authors: L
authors: Ribeiro
authors: Inês
authors: I
authors: Laíns
authors: António
authors: A
authors: Vieira
authors: Sandrina
authors: S
authors: Nunes
authors: Miguel
authors: M
authors: Costa
authors: Sílvia
authors: S
authors: Simão
authors: Victor
authors: V
authors: Rodrigues
authors: Nelson
authors: N
authors: Vilhena
authors: José
authors: J
authors: Cunha-Vaz
authors: Rufino
authors: R
authors: Silva
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D057092:Geographic Atrophy / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010781:Photography; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution; D057135:Wet Macular Degeneration / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*