DIABETES, HYPERGLYCEMIA, AND AGE-RELATED MACULOPATHY - THE BEAVER-DAM EYE STUDY

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the association among hyperglycemia, diabetes status, and age-related maculopathy in a population-based study of people between the ages of 43 and 86 years who lived in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin between 1988 and 1990. Methods: Age-related maculopathy was determined from stereoscopic fundus photographs. Results: In the nondiabetic group (n=4291), no relationship was found between glycosylated hemoglobin and any signs of age-related maculopathy. Diabetes status was not associated with early age-related maculopathy. People 75 years of age or older with diabetes (n=85) had a higher frequency of exudative macular degeneration (9.4%) than those without (4.7%) but had similar frequencies of pure geographic atrophy (3.8% for those with diabetes and 3.4% for those without diabetes). The relative risk of exudative macular degeneration in men with diabetes who were 75 years of age or older compared with those who did not have diabetes was 10.2 (95% confidence interval [Cl]: 2.4, 43.7); for females it was 1.1 (95% Cl: 0.4, 3.0). Conclusion: These data suggest that diabetes is not related to early age-related maculopathy or geographic atrophy. The relationship of exudative macular degeneration to diabetes in older men, but not women, may be a result of chance. Further longitudinal study of this observation is needed.