Skip to main content

Socioeconomic Factors Increase Risk for Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Sep 25, 2024.

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 25, 2024 -- Socioeconomic factors are linked to an increased risk for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a study published online July 1 in Health Data Science.

Yanlin Qu, from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and colleagues investigated whether low socioeconomic status (SES) increases the risk for AMD and explored the effect of a healthy lifestyle on this association. The analysis included data from 316,663 participants in the U.K. Biobank.

The researchers found that during an average 12.2 years of follow-up, 6,355 AMD cases were diagnosed. There was an increased risk for incident AMD among participants with medium SES (hazard ratio, 1.10) and low SES (hazard ratio, 1.22) compared with participants with high SES. This association was significantly affected by physical activity. Smoking also significantly mediated the association between low SES and AMD (11.3 percent). Alcohol consumption suppressed (9.59 percent) the association between high SES and AMD. A significant joint effect of SES and healthy lifestyle score was found.

"Our study identified a significant association between SES inequality and the incidence of AMD. Notably, the relationship was influenced by lifestyle behaviors," lead author Huixun Jia, from Shanghai General Hospital, said in a statement. "Our findings underscore the universal benefits of positive lifestyle adjustments. Encouraging physical activity and smoking cessation among individuals with low SES, and reducing alcohol consumption among high SES groups, could mitigate their susceptibility to AMD."

Abstract/Full Text

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted September 2024

Read this next

Global Prevalence of Congenital Heart Disease at High Altitude ~9 Percent

THURSDAY, Sept. 26, 2024 -- The global prevalence of congenital heart disease (CHD) at high altitude is 8.97 percent, according to the results of a review presented at the...

Federal Government to Offer More Free COVID-19 Tests

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 25, 2024 -- The U.S. government is offering another round of free COVID-19 tests, which will be available by the end of September. "U.S. households will be...

Prevalence of Obesity 40.3 Percent in U.S. From August 2021 to August 2023

TUESDAY, Sept. 24, 2024 -- The prevalence of obesity among adults was 40.3 percent during August 2021 to August 2023, according to a September data brief published by the National...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.