FOCUS ON LOW VISION
In the news... Awareness and treatment of AMD
By Steph DeLong

With more and more of the consumer press picking up pieces about age-related macular degeneration, this seems a good time to look at two recently released research studies about AMD. One addresses consumer awareness of AMD, and the other suggests that a vitamin regimen can help reduce the risk of advanced AMD for some patients.

To bring you up to date, and to help you better communicate information to patients and their families, here's a review of these research results.

AMD and Vitamins

Eyecare professionals around the world agree more research is needed to find ways to slow the progress, if not completely prevent, diseases like AMD.

To that end, a study sponsored by the National Eye Institute (NEI), and released just last month suggests that antioxidants and zinc help reduce the risk of advanced AMD. 

The daily dosage used in the study was: 500mg vitamin C, 400 internal units vitamin E, 15mg beta-carotene, 80mg zinc as zinc oxide, and 2mg copper as cupric oxide. The same vitamin regimen will not, however, slow the development of cataracts.

The study was conducted at 11 clinical centers around the country and involved 4,757 individuals who range in age from 55 to 80. The results of the clinical trial, called the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), appeared in the October issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

According to the NEI, which is one of the government's National Institutes of Health (NIH), the benefit to patients varied depending on their stage of AMD.

According to the NIH:

• High risk. "People at high risk of developing advanced stages of AMD lowered their risk by approximately 25 percent when treated with the high-dose combination."

• Only one eye. "In the same high risk group-which includes people with intermediate AMD, or advanced AMD in one eye but not the other eye-the nutrients reduced the risk of vision loss caused by advanced AMD by about 19 percent."

• Early AMD. "For those study participants who had either no AMD or early AMD, the nutrients did not provide an apparent benefit."

View of person with normal vision.

View of person with cataracts.

View of person with AMD.

AMD Alliance Awareness Research

Another AMD study, released earlier this year, points to a glaring lack of consumer knowledge about the disease. This study was conducted on behalf of CIBA Vision and the AMD Alliance International, a nonprofit alliance of vision and seniors groups and organizations from 19 countries whose goal is to raise awareness about AMD, including treatment, support, and rehabilitation options. Among the U.S. groups involved in the Alliance are the Seniors Coalition and Lighthouse International, whose chief of low vision programs, Bruce Rosenthal, is chairman of the Alliance's executive committee.

Survey findings reflect the results of interviews with 7,830 adults in nine countries, including the United States. Opinion Research Corp. International conducted the U.S. interviews, and the entire project was designed and analyzed by Ketchum Research and Measurement Department. Here are some of the weighted findings regarding the U.S. market.

• Eye exams. Ten percent of Americans surveyed reported having eye exams more than once a year, while 38 percent said they get exams approximately every year. They were, however, evenly split over their reasons for scheduling an exam-38 percent said it's because they need new glasses or a new prescription, while 36 percent reported it's to check their eyes' "general health."

• Vision loss. Asked to identify the primary cause of vision loss in older adults, 19 percent of Americans surveyed said it was glaucoma, 14 percent cited cataracts, and only 3 percent got the correct answer-AMD.

• Familiarity with AMD. Of the nine countries participating in the study, Americans seemed to have the most familiarity with the term "age-related macular degeneration." In fact, 19 percent said they are very familiar with AMD, and 8 percent reported that they are somewhat familiar with the term.

• Information sources. For 20 percent of Americans surveyed, the major sources of information about AMD are friends, relatives, or co-workers, but for an additional 19 percent, it's doctors or other medical professionals.

• Awareness of treatments. Fully 79 percent of Americans surveyed either admitted they didn't know of any treatment for AMD or didn't answer the question at all. On the other hand, only 3 percent of Americans thought glasses or contacts could correct AMD, compared with percentages in the teens for respondents from many other countries.

No matter how those numbers are compared and contrasted, however, one thing is clear. The level of awareness about AMD, and its causes and treatments, is incredibly low. To say that the eyecare professions have a consumer education challenge ahead of them is truly an understatement.

Log on to www.amdalliance.org to learn more about the Alliance and its AMD awareness research, and visit www.nei.nih.gov/amd/ for details of the AREDS study.