Articles about Eye Health and Disease 2001
 

Study Questions Sunlight Exposure’s Role in Macular Degeneration

(From Delcourt C, et al. Arch Ophthal 2001;119:1463-8.)

Exposure to sunlight does not play a role in the development of AMD, according to findings from a recent study. French researchers studied 2,584 residents of the town of Sete, France, administering a questionnaire about light exposure and utilizing 50-degree fundus photographs to assess the presence of early and late AMD.

The results showed that AMD was not significantly associated with any light exposure variable. Those who had frequent leisure exposure to sunlight and those who were exposed to high ambient solar radiation had a decreased risk of pigmentary abnormalities and of early AMD, the researchers found. In addition, those individuals who wore sunglasses on a regular basis had a decreased risk of soft drusen.

"Because soft drusen and pigmentary abnormalities are asymptomatic, recall bias is unlikely to have affected the associations between light exposure variables and early signs of AMD," the researchers wrote. "In conclusion, this study gives no support to a deleterious effect of sunlight exposure in AMD. The negative association between ambient solar radiation and early signs of AMD needs to be examined further."

(For more information about macular degeneration, go to: Macular Degeneration.)

 

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