by: Jessica Nye, PhD | Publish DateJune 15, 2026

KEY POINT: Clinicians may consider monitoring serum lipid profiles and macular degeneration development in patients undergoing long-term aspirin therapy.

Aspirin use may have a direct effect on early and dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) risk by decreasing serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and increasing apolipoprotein A1 (APOA1) levels, according to study findings published in Eye.

Aspirin is one of the most prescribed medications. Due to its role in complement pathway inhibition, it may affect the pathogenesis of AMD. Although prior studies have investigated aspirin in AMD risk, no concrete evidence supports or refutes its role due to conflicting results.

Investigators from the Sun Yat-Sen University in China conducted this Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to clarify the role of aspirin in AMD pathogenesis using data from the United Kingdom (UK) Biobank (n=500,000), FinnGen (n=500,000), and Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) genome-wide association study (GWAS; n=105,248). A bidirectional, 2-sample, 2-step MR was conducted to relate aspirin use with the mediators of LDL-C and APOA1 levels on the outcome of age-related macular degeneration.

Read more: Aspirin Use Linked to Increased Risk of Early, Dry AMD – Optometry Advisor

Source: Optometry ADVISOR