New research suggests that people who use aspirin on a regular basis could slightly increase their odds of coming down with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to WebMD.
Barbara E.K. Klein, MD, MPH, who was behind the research, said in the article that the heightened risk was only evident in people who had used aspirin consistently a decade prior to being diagnosed with AMD. According to Klein, the people had used aspirin no less than two times each week for in excess of three months.
Klein, who is an ophthalmology and visual sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, Madison, explained in the article that the increased risk related to wet AMD. Wet AMD is more often than not seen as being more problematic than dry AMD.
While those using aspirin on a regular basis were twice as likely to be diagnosed with AMD, Klein said in the article that the absolute risk still remains quite minimal since the condition is far from common. In fact, Klein explained that only approximately 1% of people who are in their mid-40s or older come down with the wet form of AMD.
As part of her research, Klein looked at close to 5,000 adults who were at least 43 years old. She studied them over a period of two decades, although some of the participants dropped out of the study before the two-decade mark had ended. The study results were featured in the Journal of the American Medical Association, according to the article.
The article noted that, prior to Klein’s research, the link between aspirin use and AMD was inconclusive. Klein, recognizing that more and more adults were using aspirin and coming down with the eye condition that can lead to blindness, decided to therefore conduct a study to determine if a link indeed exists.
According to the article, close to 20% of men and women use aspirin on a regular basis. The article added that, during the study, 512 men and women came down with early AMD and 117 came down with late AMD. While regular aspirin use a decade before diagnosis was tied to late AMD, regular aspirin use half a decade before diagnosis was not tied to heightened risk of AMD. Klein acknowledged in the report that more research into the matter is necessary.
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Reference: http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/macular-degeneration/news/20121213/aspirin-eye-problem-risk