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  • High Levels of Physical Activity Protect Against AMD

    By Lynda Seminara
    Selected by Richard K. Parrish II, MD
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    Journal Highlights

    American Journal of Ophthalmology, April 2022

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    Mauschitz et al. performed a meta-analysis of large studies to explore the relationship of physical activity and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). They found that high levels of activity exerted a protective effect on AMD development but did not appear to affect disease progression.

    The meta-analysis included data on 14,000 patients from seven large longitudinal studies of AMD. Activity levels were determined from stan­dardized surveys. AMD incidence and progression were assessed by Markov multistate models and random-effects meta-analysis. The effect of age was determined by meta-regression, and heterogeneity among the studies was assessed by several statistical tests. The main outcome measure was the hazard ratio (HR) for incident early AMD and for progression to late AMD.

    Most patients were White, and their mean age at baseline ranged from 60.7 to 81.4 years among the seven studies. The overall prevalence of early AMD at baseline was 7.7% (range, 3.6%-16.9%). During the follow-up period, which averaged seven years, there were 1,461 events of early AMD and 189 of late AMD. Compared with high-level (vigorous) physical activity, no activity and low-to-moderate activity posed a higher risk for early AMD (HR, 1.19; p = .04) but not for progression to late AMD.

    The favorable effect of high-level activity was greatest for younger patients. However, meta-regression analysis showed no link between age and the effect of physical activity on incident AMD. Self-reported physical activity was not captured uniformly for all patients, so it was not possible to de­termine a relationship between accrued activity and the risk of AMD.

    In light of these results, the authors recommend incorporating physical activity into AMD prevention strategies and encouraging at-risk patients to achieve and maintain a high level of activity.

    The original article can be found here.