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
. 2019 Jan;15(1):34-41.
doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2018.06.2856. Epub 2018 Aug 8.

Associations between recent and established ophthalmic conditions and risk of Alzheimer's disease

Cecilia S Lee  1 , Eric B Larson  2 , Laura E Gibbons  3 , Aaron Y Lee  4 , Susan M McCurry  5 , James D Bowen  6 , Wayne C McCormick  3 , Paul K Crane  3
Affiliations

Associations between recent and established ophthalmic conditions and risk of Alzheimer's disease

Cecilia S Lee et al. Alzheimers Dement. 2019 Jan.

Abstract

Introduction: Identifying ophthalmic diseases associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) may enable better screening and understanding of those at risk of AD.

Methods: Diagnoses of glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and diabetic retinopathy (DR) were based on International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, codes for 3877 participants from the Adult Changes in Thought study. The adjusted hazard ratio for developing probable or possible AD for recent (within 5 years) and established (>5 years) diagnoses were assessed.

Results: Over 31,142 person-years of follow-up, 792 AD cases occurred. The recent and established hazard ratio were 1.46 (P = .01) and 0.87 (P = .19) for glaucoma, 1.20 (P = .12) and 1.50 (P < .001) for AMD, and 1.50 (P = .045) and 1.50 (P = .03) for DR.

Discussion: Increased AD risk was found for recent glaucoma diagnoses, established AMD diagnoses, and both recent and established DR. People with certain ophthalmic conditions may have increased AD risk.

Keywords: Adult Changes in Thought (ACT); Age-related macular degeneration; Alzheimer's disease; Cataract; Diabetic retinopathy; Glaucoma; Ophthalmology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Flow diagram of participants included in the study. ACT, Adult Changes in Thought. Abbreviation: APOE, apolipoprotein E.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Survival curves for glaucoma, AMD, and DR, from the primary model for probable or possible Alzheimer’s disease. Abbreviations: AMD, age-related macular degeneration; DR, diabetic retinopathy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. World Alzheimer report 2015, the global impact of dementia. Available at: http://www.alz.co.uk/research/WorldAlzheimerReport2015.pdf. Accessed March 13, 2017.
    1. Alzheimer’s Association. 2015 Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures. Alzheimers Dement 2015;11:332–84. - PubMed
    1. Santos CY, Snyder PJ, Wu W-C, Zhang M, Echeverria A, Alber J. Pathophysiologic relationship between Alzheimer’s disease, cerebrovascular disease, and cardiovascular risk: a review and synthesis. Alzheimers Dement (Amst) 2017;7:69–87. - PMC - PubMed
    1. London A, Benhar I, Schwartz M. The retina as a window to the brain-from eye research to CNS disorders. Nat Rev Neurol 2013;9:44–53. - PubMed
    1. Chung S-D, Lee C-Z, Kao L-T, Lin H-C, Tsai M-C, Sheu J-J. Association between neovascular age-related macular degeneration and dementia: a population-based case-control study in Taiwan. PLoS One 2015;10:e0120003. - PMC - PubMed