Risk factors for age-related macular degeneration: Pooled findings from three continents
Section snippets
Methods
The Beaver Dam Eye Study was conducted during the period 1988–1990 in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and examined 4926 of 5925 eligible residents aged 43 to 86 years (response, 83.1%) identified in a private census. The Rotterdam Study was conducted during the period 1990–1993 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and included 7983 of 10,275 eligible residents aged 55 to 106 years (response, 77.7%) identified from the municipal registers. From these 7983 participants, 6476 underwent a complete ophthalmologic
Characteristics of the combined population
The combined population with gradable photographs totalled 14,752 participants aged from 43 to 99 years (mean age, 66.0 years) and included 8464 women (57.4%) and 6288 men (42.6%) (Table 1). The female/male ratio averaged 1.35 for subjects with gradable photos and increased with age. Among the Beaver Dam, Rotterdam, and Blue Mountains studies, female/male ratios were 1.25, 1.45, and 1.30, respectively. These ratios reflect age differences between the three studies; in Beaver Dam, the mean age
Discussion
This report represents the first attempt to combine unit data from distinct population-based eye studies to investigate AMD and its two subtypes. Strengths of this pooled study include its large sample size and the relatively similar photographic documentation performed at each of the three sites. A further strength is the use of a similar grading protocol by graders who had all spent periods of training at the Fundus Photograph Reading Center in Wisconsin. Also, the inclusion of all cases
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