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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Age Related Macular Degeneration Risk Drops 70
Percent with Regular Exercise
 October 31, 2006 - Regular exercise can cut the
likelihood of developing the degenerative eye disease, age related
macular degeneration, by 70%, according to research published ahead of
print in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. AMD is the leading cause
of blindness in senior citizens.
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Health & Medicine |
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Age related macular degeneration, or ARMD for
short, refers to a condition in which the light sensitive cells in the
macula at the back of the eye stop working. This affects central vision
and therefore activities, such as driving.
AMD is usually divided into two typesdry and
wet.
The authors base their findings on the number of
cases of AMRD arising over 15 years among almost 4,000 US men and women
in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.
Participants were aged between 43 and 86 at the
start of the study in 1988-90, and were assessed at five yearly
intervals.
As well as detailed eye examinations, they were
asked about their lifestyle and the amount of regular physical activity
they took, including climbing flights of stairs, daily walks, and
sessions of formal exercise.
One in four had an active lifestyle, and nearly one
in four climbed more than six flights of stairs a day while around one
in eight walked more than 12 blocks a day.
After taking account of other risk factors, such as
weight, blood fat levels, and age, those with an an active lifestyle
were 70% less likely to develop wet AMRD than those who had a
sedentary lifestyle.
Regular walkers were 30% less likely to develop
this variant.
Other factors, such as diet, may explain the
findings, caution the authors. But physical activity is known to reduce
systemic inflammation and irregularities in cells lining the arteries,
both of which are thought to have a role in the condition, they say.
Physically active people are also likely to be
biologically younger than those with a sedentary lifestyle, which
could also be important as AMRD is associated with ageing, they add.
Click here to view the paper in full:
http://press.psprings.co.uk/bjo/october/bj103796.pdf
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