Key takeaways:
- Individuals with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea had increased odds of having neovascular AMD.
- Nocturnal hypoxia may be a modifiable risk factor for neovascular AMD.
Moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea was associated with significantly higher odds of having neovascular age-related macular degeneration, according to a study published in Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology.
Given that nocturnal hypoxia is common in the same demographic as those at risk for AMD, previous studies have evaluated the association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and AMD.
“We recently conducted a case-control study to investigate these associations, using sleep questionnaires, where we found that being on assisted breathing treatment for diagnosed OSA was significantly associated with a higher likelihood of having AMD with the RPD phenotype,” Attiqa Chaudhary, MBBS, of the Centre for Eye Research Australia at Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in East Melbourne and the department of surgery (ophthalmology) at the University of Melbourne in Victoria, and colleagues wrote.
Read more: Moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea tied to higher odds for neovascular AMD
Source: Healio