By: Sarah McGoldrick
An aging population is driving a steady rise in reported cases of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and with AMD and Low Vision Awareness Month underway this month, education and advocacy are top of mind for eyecare professionals (ECPs) who treat patients with this condition. According to research from the journal Cureus, an estimated 20 million Americans aged 40 and older were living with AMD in 2019, including approximately 1.49 million with late-stage, vision-threatening disease, and prevalence is expected to continue its climb, leaving vision health to accelerate efforts to advance treatment options and identify new approaches to prevention. VMAIL Weekend connected with ECPs and industry experts to explore recent progress in AMD and low vision research, as well as the evolving range of treatment and management options available to patients today.
Preeti Subramanian, Ph.D., vice president of preclinical research for the Foundation Fighting Blindness, believes one of the biggest challenges of treating AMD is understanding the genetic factors that influence the prevalence of the disease. One of the most well-established mechanisms in dry age-related macular degeneration, the most common form, is dysfunction of the innate immune response, leading to overactivity of the complement pathway. Caused by the formation of small yellow deposits, or drusen, under the retina, dry AMD worsens slowly. These accumulated waste products of the retina can grow and stop the flow of nutrients, causing retinal cells in the macula that process light to die which then leads to blurred vision. An advanced form of the condition is called geographic atrophy (GA).