Ophthalmology
Volume 119, Issue 1 , Pages 112-118, January 2012

Associations between Aspirin Use and Aging Macula Disorder:

The European Eye Study

Presented at: The Macula Society Annual Meeting, February 2010, Tucson, Arizona; and at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting, May 2010, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

  • Paulus T.V.M. de Jong, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence: Paulus T. V. M. de Jong MD, PhD, Meibergdreef 47, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Usha Chakravarthy, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Centre for Vision and Vascular Science, The Queen's University, Belfast, United Kingdom
    • ,
  • Mati Rahu, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, National Institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia
    • ,
  • Johan Seland, MD

      Affiliations

    • Eye Department Stavanger University Hospital, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
    • ,
  • Gisele Soubrane, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Clinique Ophthalmologique, Universitaire De Créteil, Paris, France
    • ,
  • Fotis Topouzis, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Ophthalmology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine, Thessaloniki, Greece
    • ,
  • Johannes R. Vingerling, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Department of Ophthalmology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Jesus Vioque, PhD

      Affiliations

    • CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Universidad Miguel Hernandez, Alicante, Spain
    • ,
  • Ian Young, MD

      Affiliations

    • Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, The Queen's University, Belfast, United Kingdom
    • ,
  • Astrid E. Fletcher, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Faculty of Epidemiology & Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom

Received 6 November 2010; received in revised form 5 June 2011; accepted 21 June 2011. published online 14 September 2011.

Available online: September 14, 2011.

Objective

To study associations between aspirin use and early and late aging macula disorder (AMD).

Design

Population-based cross-sectional European Eye Study in 7 centers from northern to southern Europe.

Participants

In total, 4691 participants 65 years of age and older, collected by random sampling.

Methods

Aspirin intake and possible confounders for AMD were ascertained by a structured questionnaire. Ophthalmic and basic systemic measurements were performed in a standardized way. The study classified AMD according to the modified International Classification System on digitized fundus images at 1 grading center. Nonfasting blood samples were analyzed in a single laboratory. Associations were analyzed by logistic regression.

Main Outcome Measures

Odds ratios (ORs) for AMD in aspirin users.

Results

Early AMD was present in 36.4% of the participants and late AMD was present in 3.3% of participants. Monthly aspirin use was reported by 1931 (41.2%), at least once weekly by 7%, and daily use by 17.3%. For daily aspirin users, the ORs, adjusted for potential confounders, showed a steady increase with increasing severity of AMD grades. These were: grade 1, 1.26 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08–1.46; P<0.001); grade 2, 1.42 (95% CI, 1.18–1.70), and wet late AMD, 2.22 (95% CI, 1.61–3.05).

Conclusions

Frequent aspirin use was associated with early AMD and wet late AMD, and the ORs rose with increasing frequency of consumption. This interesting observation warrants further evaluation of the associations between aspirin use and AMD.

Financial Disclosure(s)

The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.

 

 Manuscript no. 2010-1537.

 Financial Disclosure(s): The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.

 The European Eye Study was supported by the European Commission Vth Framework (QLK6-CT-1999–02094), Brussels, Belgium. Additional funding for cameras was provided by the Macular Disease Society UK, Andover, UK. Dr. Rahu was financed by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Science (target funding 01921112s02 and SF0940026s07), Tartu, Estonia. Additional funding in Alicante was received from the Spanish Ministry of Health (grant nos.: FIS 01/1692E and RCESP C 03/09), Madrid, Spain, CIBER de Epidemiologiá y Salud Pública, and the Generalitat Valenciana (grant nos.: CTGCA/2002/06 and G03/136), Valencia, Spain. The sponsors or funding organizations had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, writing of the paper, or decision to submit the paper for publication.

PII: S0161-6420(11)00568-9

doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2011.06.025

Ophthalmology
Volume 119, Issue 1 , Pages 112-118, January 2012

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