Abstract
The relation between intakes of total fat and specific types of fat and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) remains unclear. Our objective was to examine prospectively the association between fat intake and AMD. We conducted a prospective follow-up study of participants in the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. At baseline (1984 for women and 1986 for men), the study included 42743 women and 29746 men aged > or = 50 y with no diagnosis of AMD who were followed until 1996. Fat intake was assessed with a food-frequency questionnaire. We accrued 567 patients with AMD with a visual loss of 20/30 or worse. The pooled multivariate relative risk (RR) for the highest compared with the lowest quintile of total fat intake was 1.54 (95% CI: 1.17, 2.01; P for trend = 0.008). Linolenic acid was positively associated with risk of AMD (top versus bottom quintile of RR: 1.49; 95% CI: 1.15, 1.94; P for trend = 0.0009). Docosahexaenoic acid had a modest inverse relation with AMD (top versus bottom quintile of RR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.52, 0.93; P for trend = 0.05), and >4 servings of fish/wk was associated with a 35% lower risk of AMD compared with < or = 3 servings/mo (RR: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.91; P for trend = 0.009). Total fat intake was positively associated with risk of AMD, which may have been due to intakes of individual fatty acids, such as linolenic acid, rather than to total fat intakes per se. A high intake of fish may reduce the risk of AMD.
Highlights
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of vision loss for which treatment options are limited
Because few studies have assessed the associations between specific types of fat and risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) [12, 13], we examined these relations in 2 large prospective cohorts of women and men
All other findings agreed with results from the cumulative updated analyses; the associations were somewhat weaker when we used the most recent intake. In this large prospective study of women and men, we observed a positive association between intake of total fat and incidence of AMD
Summary
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of vision loss for which treatment options are limited. Because few studies have assessed the associations between specific types of fat and risk of AMD [12, 13], we examined these relations in 2 large prospective cohorts of women and men. Study participants contributed person-time in each 2-y interval from the time the baseline FFQ was returned or from 50 y of age until a diagnosis of AMD or cancer, death, the time that the last questionnaire was returned, or the end of the follow-up period (1 June 1996 for women and 1 January 1996 for men), whichever came first.
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