Retina-Vitreous
2007 , Vol 15 , Num 3
The Role of Serum Lipids in the Development of Age-Related Macular Degeneration
1S.B. Göztepe Eğitim Hastanesi Göz Hastalıkları Kliniği, İstanbul, Uzm. Dr.2S.B. Göztepe Eğitim Hastanesi Göz Hastalıkları Kliniği, İstanbul, Asist. Dr.
3S.B. Göztepe Eğitim Hastanesi Göz Hastalıkları Kliniği, İstanbul, Prof. Dr. Purpose: To investigate the relationship between age related macular degeneration (AMD) and serum lipid levels.
Materials and Methods: Fourty patients diagnosed with AMD and 30 age-matched healthy controls who were free of diabetes or hypercholesterolemia were included in the study. The patients in the study group were devided into exudative AMD (n=23) and nonexudative AMD (n=17) groups. The serum lipid levels of all patients were measured and the results were compared between all groups.
Results: The total cholesterol levels of exudative AMD group were higher than the nonexudative AMD and the control groups, whereas there was no difference between the nonexudative AMD and control group cholesterol levels. There was no statistically significant difference in the serum trigliceride, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL)-cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, total cholesterol/ HDL-cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol levels between all the groups, but the HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels were markedly high in the exudative AMD group.
Conclusion: High serum cholesterol levels are probably a risk factor in the development of exudative age related macular degeneration. Keywords : Serum lipids, age-related macular degeneration