Barbados Eye Study Confirms Lower Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration in a Population of African Descent

The ongoing Barbados Eye Study (BES) examined the nine-year incidence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a population of African descent and found that early AMD is common, but late AMD is infrequent. This provides further evidence that black populations have a lower risk of developing late AMD than white populations. The study was funded by the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

The overall incidence rate of early AMD was 12.6 percent and that of late AMD was 0.7 percent. Both types of AMD increased with age, ranging from 10.7 percent at 40 to 49 years of age to 16.8 percent at 70 years or less for early AMD, and ranging from 0.1 percent to 2.3 percent for the same age groups for late AMD. Even though early AMD rates in this study were similar to early AMD rates in studies of European populations, late AMD rates were significantly lower.

Late AMD was more likely to develop in eyes that had atrophy of retinal pigment epithelial cells. Also, late AMD was associated with elevated systolic blood pressure and diabetes history, though only the diabetes association had a borderline statistical significance after adjusting for age.

The original BES was begun in 1987 to determine the prevalence of AMD and other major eye diseases in a black population. Barbados, an independent Caribbean island nation within the British Commonwealth, was chosen because its population is 93 percent black and because information on the long-term risk of AMD in a black population was previously nonexistent.

Citation:
Leske MC, Wu SY, Hennis A, Nemesure B, Yan L, Hyman L, Schacht AP. Nine-Year Incidence of Age-Related Macular Degeneration in the Barbados Eye Studies. Ophthalmology 113:29-35, 2006.

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