Age-related macular degeneration and progression of coronary artery calcium: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis
Antonio B. Fernándeza b✉, Kevin David Ballardc, Tien Yin Wongd, Mengye Guoe, Robyn L. McClellande, Gregory L. Burkef, Mary Frances Cotchg, Ronald Kleinh, Matthew Allisoni, Ronald Kleinh
- aDepartment of Medicine, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT, United States of America
- bDivision of Cardiology, Heart and Vascular Institute, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT, United States of America
- cDepartment of Kinesiology and Health, Miami University, Oxford, OH, United States of America
- dSingapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Center, Duke-NUS Medical School, National University of Singapore, Singapore
- eDepartment of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States of America
- fWake Forest University Health Sciences, Department of Public Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC, United States of America
- gDivision of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications, NIH Intramural Research Program, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States of America
- hDepartment of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States of America
- iUniversity of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States of America
Papers open inside SciRah from the original publisher or repository; SciRah never hosts them.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) shares many similarities with cardiovascular disease (CVD) pathophysiology. We sought to determine the relationship of AMD to the progression of coronary artery calcium (CAC) using data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). METHODS: Our cohort consisted of 5803 adults aged 45 to 84 years free of known cardiovascular disease (CVD). Retinal photographs were taken during visit 2 (Aug 2002-Jan 2004). CAC was measured with computed tomography at visit 1 (July 2000-Aug 2002) and visit 5 (April 2010-Dec 2011) and changes between visits were determined. RESULTS: Participants were categorized as with (n = 244) and without AMD (n = 5559) at visit 2. At visit 5, 92 participants with and 2684 without AMD had CAC scores. Among those with detectable CAC at baseline (>0 at visit 1), CAC progression was greater in persons with compared to those without AMD after multivariable adjustment (530 ± 537 vs. 339 ± 426 Agatston units, P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The presence of AMD in a diverse population without known clinical CVD independently predicted higher 10-year CAC progression in participants with baseline CAC >0. The retinal exam might be a useful tool for pre-clinical assessment and prevention of CVD events.