Older adults who smoke are twice as likely to suffer from a degenerative eye disorder that is the leading cause of Blindness in the elderly as their non-smoking peers, according to a new study.

Smoking is known to be a risk factor for the disorder called Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD or AMD), lead author Dr. Jennifer R. Evans and colleagues, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, note. However, the strength of the association among adults 75 years of age and older in the UK was unclear.

To investigate, they analyzed data from 516 AMD patients and 4364 healthy controls drawn from 49 general practices across Britain.

Current smoking status raised the risk of AMD more than 2-fold compared with non-smoking, they report in the May issue of the British Journal of Ophthalmology. Virtually no excess risk was seen in ex-smokers, especially those who had stopped more than 20 years previously.

Based on these findings, the authors estimate that 28,000 cases of Age-related macular degeneration among older adults in the UK may be attributable to smoking.

“An increased risk of AMD, which is the most commonly occurring cause of blindness in the UK, is yet another reason for people to stop smoking and governments to develop public health campaigns against this hazard,” the researchers emphasize.

SOURCE: British Journal of Ophthalmology May 2005.