Hormone Replacement Therapy, Reproductive Factors, and Age-Related Macular Degeneration: The Salisbury Eye Evaluation Project

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate a potential relationship between hormone replacement therapy (HRT), reproductive factors and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods: 1,458 female participants (age 65–84) from the Salisbury Eye Evaluation study were available for this cross-sectional analysis. AMD outcomes were identified by reading center assessment of fundus photographs. Results: Women who currently used HRT had a lower adjusted odds of large drusen (> 125 μ m) (OR = 0.5, 95% CI 0.2–1.0). Use of HRT was not statistically significantly associated with the prevalence of early AMD or advanced AMD, although the odds ratios were all much less than 1. Women who had had an increased number of births had a greater prevalence of large drusen (test of linear trend, p = 0.03). Conclusions: Current use of HRT was associated with a lower odds of large drusen, which may be predictive of advanced AMD. No statistically significant correlations were found between HRT or reproductive factors and early or advanced AMD.

KEYWORDS:

• Age-related macular degeneration
• drusen
• estrogen
• hormone replacement therapy
• reproduction