退行性黄斑变性是心血管事件的预测因子

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Study finds degenerative eye disease raises stroke risk

LONDON (Reuters) - People with age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of severe vision loss, have double the usual risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke, Australian researchers reported on Thursday.

They found that for people under the age of 75 when the study began, those who developed early age-related macular degeneration had twice the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke within the next decade.

People with the late stage of the incurable disease at the start of the study had five times the risk of dying from a heart attack, and 10 times the risk of dying from a stroke, Paul Mitchell of the Centre for Vision Research at the University of Sydney and colleagues found.

\"However, our finding that late age-related macular degeneration predicts stroke or cardiovascular mortality was based on relatively small numbers and should be interpreted cautiously,\" they wrote.

The researchers, who reported their findings in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, studied more than 3,000 people all older than 49 years old at the beginning of the study between 1992 and 1994.

Over the following 10 years, the researchers conducted two general health and eye exams five years apart that included physical checks and photographs of the retina.

Age-related macular degeneration is a chronic disease that affects the central part of the retina of the eye, resulting in blurred central vision or a blind spot in the centre of one's visual field.

It does not affect peripheral vision, but the loss of clear central vision can rob a person of the ability to read, drive and recognise people's faces even without causing total blindness.

The researchers do not know what is actually triggering the elevated risk but said one explanation may be that the eye disease is simply a sign of older age when people are more prone to heart attacks and strokes.

The findings could also have important implications for doctors because of concerns that some current treatments for the eye disease may increase stroke risk, the researchers said.
伦敦（路透社）----星期三，澳大利亚的研究人员报道说，年龄相关性黄斑变性（一种导致失明的主要原因），增加1倍死于心脏病发作或中风的风险。

他们发现，对于进入研究时年龄在75岁以下的、患早期年龄相关性黄斑变性疾病的老年人，在其后的10年中，死于心脏病发作或中风疾病的风险增加1倍。

来自悉尼大学视力研究中心的Paul Mitchell及其同事发现，对于进入研究时已患晚期年龄相关性黄斑变性疾病的老年人，死于心脏病发作疾病的风险增加4倍，死于中风疾病的风险增加9倍。

他们说：“但是，由于我们的关于晚期年龄相关性黄斑变性疾病预示发生高的中风或心血管疾病死亡率的结论是基于相对小的病例数，所以应该小心谨慎的解释目前的结论。”

在《英国眼科杂志》发表他们研究结果的研究人员，从1992年到1994年开始，研究了入组时年龄超过49岁的、3000例患者的情况。

在随访跟踪的10年里，研究人员每隔5年对患者进行两项普通的健康和眼睛检查（包括视网膜的物理检查和成像检查）。

年龄相关性黄斑变性疾病是一种影响视网膜中心部分的疾病，它导致视野中心变模糊或者在视区出现盲点。

这种病不影响外周视力，但是明显的中心视力的丧失会剥夺患者阅读、驾驶的能力，甚至即使没有出现全盲的情况下也会是患者不能认出别人的脸。

研究人员不知道到底是什么原因引起患者这种死亡风险的提高，但是有一种解释是：眼睛黄斑变性仅仅是老年人的一个体征，而这些老年人易于发生心脏病发作和中风。

研究人员说：“这些发现可能对医生有重要的意义，因为担心当前一些治疗眼睛疾病的治疗方法可能会增加中风的风险。”