The number of Americans with age-related macular degeneration is expected to skyrocket as the U.S. population grows older.

The Complications of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Prevention Trial (CAPT) Research Group assessed night vision in a cohort of 1,052 CAPT patients.

Research results from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine show that the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is markedly slowed in new laboratory-engineered mice when they received treatments of retinylamine, a trial drug that has been tested in a medical school lab. AMD is a leading cause of vision loss in Americans 60 years of age and older.

The research, published online today in the Lancet, adds to the growing understanding of the genetics of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which the researchers believe should ultimately lead to novel treatments for the disease.

Janet S. Sunness, M.D., Director of the Hoover Low Vision Services at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, and her fellow researchers have discovered a simple and inexpensive way to predict the rapid loss of visual acuity, the ability to see detail, in “dry” AMD patients.

The Complications of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Prevention Trial (CAPT) was a multicenter randomized clinical trial (conducted from 1999 to 2005) that investigated whether low-intensity laser treatment could prevent vision loss in patients with early stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

In a study that underscores the important role that individual genetic profiles will play in the development of new therapies for disease, a multi-institutional research team – led by Kang Zhang, MD, PhD professor of ophthalmology and human genetics at Shiley Eye Center at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine – has made two important discoveries related to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in adults over the age of 60.

A University of Kentucky ophthalmologist, along with a team of scientists, has discovered a genetic mutation that offers protection against a type of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disease of the eye that is the leading cause of blindness in adults over age 50.

Eating oily fish once a week may reduce age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which is the major cause of blindness and poor vision in adults in western countries and the third cause of global blindness, according to a study published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

AMD erodes and can eventually destroy the central vision needed for reading, driving, and other daily tasks. When AMD risk levels among racial and ethnic groups are compared, Caucasians are usually identified as at highest risk. Asians in particular have been assumed to have lower risk.

Age-dependent macular degeneration (AMD) is the commonest cause of blindness in the western industrialised nations. Hereditary changes in the regulation of the immune system influence the risk of contracting AMD.

Women who take postmenopausal hormones appear to have a lower risk of developing advanced stages of the eye disease age-related macular degeneration, especially if they had also taken oral contraceptives in the past, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.