Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2016 Feb 19;11(2):e0149030.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0149030. eCollection 2016.

Pseudodrusen in the Fellow Eye of Patients with Unilateral Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Meta-Analysis

Qiang Zhou  1 , James Shaffer  2 , Gui-shuang Ying  2
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Pseudodrusen in the Fellow Eye of Patients with Unilateral Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Meta-Analysis

Qiang Zhou et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Importance: The fellow eye of patients with unilateral neovascular age-related degeneration (nAMD) is at increased risk of developing late AMD. Several cohort studies have evaluated the prevalence of pseudodrusen and the association between pseudodrusen and late AMD in the fellow eye of patients with unilateral nAMD. However, these studies have limited sample sizes and their results are inconsistent.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence rate of pseudodrusen, and the association between pseudodrusen and incidence of late AMD (nAMD and geographic atrophy (GA)) in the fellow eye of patients with unilateral nAMD.

Data sources: The PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases were searched up to July 2015, as well as other systematic reviews.

Study selection: All cohort studies for pseudodrusen with late AMD in the fellow eye of patients with unilateral nAMD.

Data extraction and synthesis: The numbers of patients with and without pseudodrusen at baseline and the numbers of incident nAMD and GA during follow up among patients with and without pseudodrusen were independently extracted by 2 authors. The results were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 test.

Main outcome measures: Prevalence rate of pseudodrusen, risk ratios (RRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for associations between pseudodrusen and the incidence of nAMD and GA in the fellow eye.

Results: Five cohort studies (N = 677 patients) from 8 countries across 4 continents were included. The pooled prevalence rate of pseudodrusen in the fellow eye was 48.1% (95% Cl: 36.7-59.5%, I2 = 87%). Pseudodrusen were associated with an increased risk of nAMD (RR = 1.54, 95% Cl: 1.10-2.16, I2 = 42%), GA (RR = 4.70, 95% Cl: 1.22-18.1, I2 = 64%), and late AMD (RR = 2.03, 95% Cl: 1.35-3.06, I2 = 60%).

Conclusions: For patients with unilateral nAMD, pseudodrusen were present in about half of the fellow eyes. The presence of pseudodrusen was associated with a 1.5 times higher risk of developing nAMD, a 4.7 times higher risk of developing GA, and a 2 times higher risk of developing late AMD. Pseudodrusen should be considered in evaluating the risk of late AMD development; however, due to considerable heterogeneity across these studies, a larger study is needed to validate these findings.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. The Selection of Studies for the Meta-analysis.
Fig 2
Fig 2. The prevalence rate of pseudodrusen in the fellow eye of patients with unilateral neovascular age-related macular degeneration.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Association between pseudodrusen and incidence of the neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) in the fellow eye.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Association between pseudodrusen and incidence of geographic atrophy (GA) in the fellow eye.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Association between pseudodrusen and incidence of late age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the fellow eye.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lim LS, Mitchell P, Seddon JM, Holz FG, Wong TY. Age-related macular degeneration. Lancet. 2012;379(9827):1728–38. 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60282-7 . - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wong TY, Chakravarthy U, Klein R, Mitchell P, Zlateva G, Buggage R, et al. The natural history and prognosis of neovascular age-related macular degeneration: a systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis. Ophthalmology. 2008;115(1):116–26. 10.1016/j.ophtha.2007.03.008 . - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sarks SH. Ageing and degeneration in the macular region: a clinico-pathological study. The British journal of ophthalmology. 1976;60(5):324–41. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mimoun G, Soubrane G, Coscas G. [Macular drusen]. Journal francais d'ophtalmologie. 1990;13(10):511–30. . - PubMed
    1. Arnold JJ, Sarks SH, Killingsworth MC, Sarks JP. Reticular pseudodrusen. A risk factor in age-related maculopathy. Retina. 1995;15(3):183–91. . - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources