Journal Highlights New Findings On Age-Related Macular Degeneration And Nutrition, Eye Injuries In The Iraq War and Glaucoma and Quality of Life
What nutrients are under investigation for their possible role in age-related macular degeneration (AMD)? What is the incidence of eye trauma among troops serving in Iraq? How does glaucoma affect the quality of life of patients? These are among the issues addressed in the February 2008 issue of Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Antioxidants and AMD
In the Australian Blue Mountains Eye Study, lead author Paul Mitchell, MD, PhD, evaluated how antioxidant intake from foods and supplements impacted the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), or of disease progression in those already afflicted. The 2,454 mostly white participants were 49 or older when they enrolled and were reexamined after five or 10 years. Since enrollment took place from 1992 to 1994, before widespread publicity about antioxidants and AMD, participants' dietary intake reporting was unlikely to be influenced by such publicity.Oxidative stress is hypothesized to cause atrophy of light-sensitive cells in the macula, the area in the eye's retina that processes central vision. Prior studies suggested that high doses of zinc and antioxidant vitamin supplements, if started in the "relatively advanced early" stage of the disease, might slow AMD progression.
The Blue Mountain Eye Study evaluated the dietary and supplement intake of beta-carotene, zinc, lutein, zeaxanthin, and vitamins C and E in relation to the development of AMD. The researchers said that "higher dietary intake of lutein and zeaxanthin may confer protection against long-term" advanced AMD, and that "zinc intake from diet and supplements combined may protect against early or any AMD. A high intake of vegetables also was protective for any AMD."
Eye Injuries in Iraq
Allen B. Thach, MD, Colonel (retired) US Army, and his research team reviewed the medical records of Iraq war coalition forces, enemy prisoners of war, and civilians treated by United States ophthalmologists from March 2003 to December 2005 to determine the incidence and nature of severe eye injuries that resulted in substantial loss of vision. Eye trauma was often accompanied by other massive bodily injuries in these patients. Military ophthalmologists usually treated patients in combat support hospitals in Iraq or Kuwait after medics provided initial stabilization. Teams of surgical specialists often worked simultaneously on a soldier's wounds immediately after his or her transport from the battlefield.
Explosions were the cause of 73 percent of the 797 severe eye injuries reviewed. Multiple foreign bodies including metallic shrapnel, dirt, cement and other objects from explosions resulted in tissue loss and resultant loss of an eye in numerous patients. Removal of the eye was required in 116 patients, or about 13 percent, compared with 50 percent of eye injuries in World War II and 20 percent in the Viet Nam war. This study did not include data on long-term rehabilitation and recovery of troops with severe eye injuries. Only 74 individuals were documented as wearing protective goggles at the time they were wounded. The researchers conclude: "Although eye protection might have limited some of the trauma, it could not have prevented all injuries."
Glaucoma and Quality of Life
About 1,000 residents of the community of Salisbury, Maryland, aged 65 to 84 years, were examined and interviewed by David S. Friedman, MD, MPH, and colleagues to learn how glaucoma impacts quality of life. Glaucoma damages the optic nerve and results in blindness if untreated. Ophthalmic examinations identified definite or probable glaucoma in 11.7 percent of those studied (5.8 percent with glaucoma in both eyes and 5.9 percent in only one eye.) Study participants were asked whether they needed help from others with eating, bathing, dressing, and routine activities like grocery shopping and paying the bills. They also completed the Activities of Daily Vision Scale (ADVS), a widely used questionnaire that assesses visual difficulty on tasks including reading, walking down steps, and driving.
The Salisbury study showed that individuals with unilateral glaucoma reported no higher levels of difficulty than those without glaucoma, but individuals with bilateral glaucoma were three times more likely than those without glaucoma to score in the "most difficulty" range on the ADVS. "These physical limitations clearly translate into a subjective sense of decreased independence," Dr. Friedman writes. People with "most difficulty" scores were also more likely to be older, African-American, and have other activity-limiting health problems and depressive symptoms.
About the American Academy of Ophthalmology
AAO is the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons-Eye M.D.s-with more than 27,000 members worldwide. Eye health care is provided by the three "O's" - opticians, optometrists and ophthalmologists. It is the ophthalmologist, or Eye M.D., who can treat it all: eye diseases and injuries, and perform eye surgery.
American Academy of Ophthalmology
Jurnalul subliniazã rezultatele pe noi legate de vârstã macular degenerare ºi de nutriþie, leziuni oculare în Rãzboiul din Irak ºi glaucom ºi a calitãþii vieþii - Journal Highlights New Findings On Age-Related Macular Degeneration And Nutrition, Eye Injuries In The Iraq War and Glaucoma and Quality of Life - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate