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SMOKERS FACE GREATER RISK OF BLINDNESS
16 April 2004 - Duke University
| New research finds that smoking cigarettes greatly increases your risk of blindness. Michael Cooney, director of the Center for Macular Degeneration at the Duke Eye Center, says age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, is the most common cause of adult blindness, affecting a third of older adults. |
New research finds that smoking cigarettes greatly increases your risk of blindness. Michael Cooney, director of the Center for Macular Degeneration at the Duke Eye Center, says age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, is the most common cause of adult blindness, affecting a third of older adults. Those who smoke are four times as likely to develop AMD. "Some large studies performed in the United Kingdom have recently shown something that we thought was true for a number of years: smoking can increase the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, as it increases the risk of developing many other health conditions." Cooney says while the link between smoking and AMD is proven, the exact cause is still unclear. "Possibly chemicals or different types of oxidizing or oxygen-damaging chemicals can be released from cigarette smoke, which can damage the macula, some of the important vision cells and blood vessels underlying the retina." Cooney says AMD is on the rise as baby boomers age, and that quitting smoking can reduce AMD risk. I'm Cabell Smith for MedMinute.
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