Those with late stage, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have five times the risk of dying from a heart attack and 10 times the risk of dying from a stroke.
An Australian research team from the Centre for Vision Research in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Sydney discovered the link during the course of their ten-year study of people aged 49 and over. They also found that AMD doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke in those under 75 when the study began.
Age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of blindness in the elderly. The report can be found in the Feb. 28 online issue of the British Journal of Ophthalmology.
