HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Heuberger, R. A Articles by Mares-Perlman, J. A Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Heuberger, R. A Articles by Mares-Perlman, J. A Agricola Articles by Heuberger, R. A Articles by Mares-Perlman, J. A

Relation of blood homocysteine and its nutritional determinants to age-related maculopathy in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey^1,2,3

¹ From the Departments of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (RAH, AIF, RK, BEKK, and JAM-P) and Preventive Medicine (MP), University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, and the Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston (PFJ).

Background: Blood homocysteine and its nutritional determinants folate and cyanocobalamin (vitamin B-12) have been shown to affect the risk of vascular disease. The pathogenesis of age-related maculopathy (ARM) is related to adverse vascular changes.

Objective: The objective was to evaluate the associations between homocysteine, its nutritional determinants, and ARM in persons aged 40 y participating in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Design: A nonmydriatic fundus photograph of one eye, taken in a mobile examination center, was used to ascertain ARM status. Phlebotomy was performed for measurement of homocysteine, cyanocobalamin, and erythrocyte folate in participants of phase 2 of the survey (n = 3828). Logistic regressions were used to compute odds ratios and 95% CIs by quintile of serum analyte by using sample weights and jackknife replication methods to adjust for the complex survey design. The final analyses were adjusted for potential risk factors that influenced odds ratios.

Results: Total serum homocysteine, red blood cell folate, and serum cyanocobalamin were unrelated to ARM in the overall sample. However, red blood cell folate was inversely related to one type of early ARM lesion (soft drusen) in non-Hispanic blacks.

Conclusions: ARM does not appear to be associated with homocysteine or its dietary determinants in this survey. There is a need for further investigation to rule out potential associations in subgroups with low folate status that may not have been detected because of the cross-sectional survey design.

Key Words: Homocysteine • age-related maculopathy • third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey • NHANES III • elderly • vitamin B-12 • folate

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Y. Dun, M. Thangaraju, P. Prasad, V. Ganapathy, and S. B. Smith Prevention of Excitotoxicity in Primary Retinal Ganglion Cells by (+)-Pentazocine, a Sigma Receptor-1 Specific Ligand Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., October 1, 2007; 48(10): 4785 - 4794. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. H. C. Wu, A. G. Tan, E. Rochtchina, E. J. Favaloro, A. Williams, P. Mitchell, and J. J. Wang Circulating Inflammatory Markers and Hemostatic Factors in Age-Related Maculopathy: A Population-Based Case-Control Study Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., May 1, 2007; 48(5): 1983 - 1988. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]