Eye degeneration

[Guest guest]

Maybe the best idea would be to eat an anti-inflammatory diet!

 

Hope for Treatment of Age-Related Blindness

28 Apr 2005

 

 

 

 

 

Rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with anti-inflammatory drugs

are 10 times less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration

(AMD), the most common form of blindness in people over 55,

researchers at the University of British Columbia and University of

Saskatchewan have found.

 

The study, recently published in the Neurobiology of Aging, is a

joint effort of neurologist Dr. Patrick McGeer of UBC and

rheumatologist Dr. John Sibley of the U of S.

 

The scientists found that that rheumatoid arthritis patients being

treated with anti-inflammatory drugs were 10 times less likely to

develop (AMD) than unaffected individuals in the United States,

Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

 

" Age-related macular degeneration is like Alzheimer's disease of the

eye, with retinal deposits called drusen acting like amyloid deposits

in the brain found in Alzheimer's, " says McGeer, a UBC professor

emeritus in the Kinsmen Laboratory of Neurological Research and

expert in the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS).

 

The scientists reviewed 993 rheumatoid arthritis patients in

Saskatchewan aged 65 years or older who, on average, had been living

with the condition since age 51. Only three had developed AMD, where

about 30 cases could be expected in a similarly-aged group from the

general populace.

 

" It was natural for us to look at the rheumatoid arthritis

population, " says Sibley, a U of S professor of medicine and head of

the division of rheumatology. " They have been followed closely for

more than 40 years with particular attention paid to retinal changes

because medication widely used for rheumatoid arthritis can create

visual problems. "

 

It is already accepted that NSAIDS reduce the incidence of bowel

cancer. Fifteen years ago, McGeer and Sibley found the first of a

growing body of evidence that NSAIDS may also help reduce the

incidence of Alzheimer's. However, Sibley says this is the first time

a link has been identified between anti-inflammatories and macular

degeneration.

 

The researchers emphasize that further study is required to confirm

their findings, but if they are corroborated, anti-inflammatories

would be the first approach for this intractable disease. Related

questions such as optimum dosage and when to begin treatment need to

be answered. Also, since NSAIDS can have side effects such as stomach

upset, ulcers and stress on kidneys, they are not appropriate for

everyone and criteria for high-risk patients that would benefit from

their use will need to be defined.

 

Macular degeneration is the most common cause of severe vision loss

in Canada, especially among the elderly, according to the Canadian

National Institute for the Blind. It causes one in three cases of

reported vision loss. The condition causes light-sensitive cells in

the macula, or central portion of the retina, to degenerate. The

macula is responsible for perceiving fine visual detail. Early signs

of macular degeneration include blurring of vision when performing

detailed tasks like reading or sewing.

 

AMD is the most common form of the disease and causes permanent loss

of central vision. There are two forms of AMD - wet and dry - with

more than 85 per cent of cases being the dry form, for which there is

no effective treatment.

 

McGeer and Sibley's work was supported through the Arthritis,

Rheumatism, and Aging Medical Information System (ARAMIS) consortium

through grants from the United States National Institutes of Health.

Additional funding was provided through the Jack Brown and Family

Alzheimer's Disease Foundation and the estate of George Hodgson.

 

Note: To view the paper, visit

www.sciencedirect.com/science/journals, click on Neurobiology of

Aging , Articles in Press. A PDF of the study is available upon

request.

 

Contact: Hilary Thomson

hilary.thomson

604-822-2644

University of British Columbia

http://www.ubc.ca