Original articleAssociations between Aspirin Use and Aging Macula Disorder: The European Eye Study
Section snippets
Patients and Methods
Participants were recruited between 2000 and 2003 by random sampling of population registers of inhabitants older than 65 years of age across various latitudes in 7 European countries: Bergen (Norway), Tallinn (Estonia), Belfast (United Kingdom), Paris-Creteil (France), Verona (Italy), Thessaloniki (Greece), and Alicante (Spain).22 Participants were interviewed by field workers. Self-reported data included sociodemographic details, educational level, current and past smoking status, alcohol
Results
In 62 of 4753 participants graded for AMD, information on aspirin use was missing (29 control persons, 28 with grade 1 AMD, 3 with grade 2 AMD, 1 with grade 3 AMD, and 1 with grade 4 AMD), leaving 4691 participants. The characteristics according to reported frequency of aspirin use are given in Table 1. Those who reported daily aspirin use were older, were less likely to be smokers, and had lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. They reported significantly more CVD and angina. Early AMD
Discussion
The main findings in this study were that frequent aspirin use was associated with wAMD and that intake frequency exhibited a consistent relationship across the severity grades of the AMD spectrum with the exception of grade 3. When adjustment was made for all known confounders including CVD or angina, the associations did not change. However, there may be other confounders that were not measured. No association or trend was found between aspirin intake and dAMD, but the number of cases was
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Cited by (49)
Baseline characteristics and age-related macular degeneration in participants of the “ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly” (ASPREE)-AMD trial
2020, Contemporary Clinical Trials CommunicationsCitation Excerpt :However, aspirin could also exacerbate retinal hemorrhages in late AMD [16–21]. Consistent with this paradox, previous observational and experimental studies in AMD have reported differing results related to risks and benefits of aspirin [14–19,21–34]. Meta-analyses have similarly not yielded definitive conclusions [20,35–37].
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2020, Drug-Induced Ocular Side Effects, Eigtht EditionDoes Aspirin Worsen Macular Degeneration in a Clinically Meaningful Way?
2019, OphthalmologyThe Association of Aspirin Use with Age-Related Macular Degeneration Progression in the Age-Related Eye Disease Studies: Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 Report No. 20
2019, OphthalmologyCitation Excerpt :However, a previous study showed that the proportion of older adults taking aspirin weekly (but not daily) is relatively low.23 Our definition of aspirin use also was in line with that of 2 previous studies that reported positive associations between aspirin use and AMD.23,24 Late AMD was defined principally by reading center grading of color fundus photographs, because spectral-domain OCT use was not widespread earlier on in the studies and no validated grading protocols existed.
The Relationship Between Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drug Use and Age-related Macular Degeneration
2018, American Journal of OphthalmologyCitation Excerpt :Differences in study design, including disease assessment, aspirin regimen, classification of aspirin use, and study population, account for some of these differences. Three studies gained attention because they found a 2- to 3-fold increase in the risk of neovascular AMD in regular users of aspirin.5,10–12 Inability to account for confounders, even after employing advanced statistical methods, is an innate limitation of such observational studies.5,6
Antiplatelet and Anticoagulant Drugs Do Not Affect Visual Outcome in Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration in the BRAMD Trial
2018, American Journal of Ophthalmology
Manuscript no. 2010-1537.
Financial Disclosure(s): The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
The European Eye Study was supported by the European Commission Vth Framework (QLK6-CT-1999–02094), Brussels, Belgium. Additional funding for cameras was provided by the Macular Disease Society UK, Andover, UK. Dr. Rahu was financed by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Science (target funding 01921112s02 and SF0940026s07), Tartu, Estonia. Additional funding in Alicante was received from the Spanish Ministry of Health (grant nos.: FIS 01/1692E and RCESP C 03/09), Madrid, Spain, CIBER de Epidemiologiá y Salud Pública, and the Generalitat Valenciana (grant nos.: CTGCA/2002/06 and G03/136), Valencia, Spain. The sponsors or funding organizations had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, writing of the paper, or decision to submit the paper for publication.