title: Neovascular age-related macular degeneration is not associated with coronary heart disease in a Chinese Population: a population-based study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This case-control study aimed to explore the association between prior coronary heart disease (CHD) and neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) using a population-based data set in Taiwan.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analysed data sourced from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005. The study consisted of 1970 patients with neovascular AMD as cases and 5910 age- and sex-matched controls. We performed a conditional logistic regression to examine the odds ratio (OR) and its corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) for previously diagnosed CHD between cases and controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 7880 sampled patients, 24.5% had a prior history of CHD; CHD was found in 25.7% of cases and in 22.7% of controls (p = 0.008). The conditional logistic regression analysis indicated that the OR for prior CHD for cases was 1.17 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04-1.32] compared to the controls. However, after adjusting for patient's monthly income, geographic location, urbanization level, age, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes and hypertension, we failed to observe an association between prior CHD and AMD (OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 0.91-1.17). Additionally, the medical comorbidities of hyperlipidaemia (adjusted OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.15-1.45), hypertension (adjusted OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.05-1.37) and diabetes (adjusted OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.32-1.65) were significantly associated with AMD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study presented no significant difference in the odds of prior CHD between patients with AMD and those without AMD after adjusting for comorbidities and sociodemographic characteristics in a Chinese population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.|Department of Ophthalmology, Shin Kong Wu-Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.|School of Medicine, Fu-Jen Catholic University, Hsingchuang, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chao-Chien
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.|School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Herng-Ching
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.|Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jau-Jiuan
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Sheu
authors.affiliation: Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.|Graduate Institute of Life Science, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Li-Ting
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Kao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity / Q000639:trends; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D057135:Wet Macular Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: age-related macular degeneration; coronary heart disease; neovascular age-related macular degeneration