title: New neovascular age-related macular degeneration is associated with systemic leucocyte activity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate systemic leucocyte activity in subtypes of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and onset of neovascular AMD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with early and late AMD and age-matched control individuals were recruited consecutively, and venous blood was sampled for differential leucocyte counts. Patients with neovascular AMD were grouped based on time of blood sampling in relation to diagnosis of neovascular AMD: diagnosis of new neovascular AMD more than 30 days before blood sampling, within 30 days of blood sampling and more than 30 days after blood sampling.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 347 recruited participants, 330 fulfilled the eligibility criteria (77 age-matched controls, 33 with early AMD, 56 with geographic atrophy and 164 with neovascular AMD). We did not find any differences in the differential counts between patients at different stages of AMD and age-matched control individuals. However, lymphocyte and monocytes-basophils-eosinophils mixed (MXD) counts were both significantly increased in patients with new neovascular AMD. Among these patients; higher MXD correlated with lower BCVA, larger central foveal thickness and larger total lesion size; higher lymphocytes correlated with smaller total lesion size; higher neutrophils correlated with CNV lesion size; and higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio correlated with larger lesion size.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Systemic leucocyte activity is associated with onset of CNV in patients with AMD and correlate with lesion size and BCVA, which suggest that acute systemic immune activity may play a role in neovascular flaring of AMD.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Eye Research Unit, Department of Ophthalmology, Zealand University Hospital, Roskilde, Denmark.|Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Yousif
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6620-5365
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Subhi
authors.affiliation: Clinical Eye Research Unit, Department of Ophthalmology, Zealand University Hospital, Roskilde, Denmark.|Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Torben
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lykke Sørensen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002829:Choroid / Q000473:pathology*; D020256:Choroidal Neovascularization / Q000473:pathology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D014792:Visual Acuity; D057135:Wet Macular Degeneration / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: age-related macular degeneration; blood; granulocytes; leucocytes; lymphocytes; monocytes