Coleman AL, Seitzman RL, Cummings SR, et al. The association of smoking and alcohol use with age-related macular degeneration in the oldest old: the study of osteoporotic fractures. Am J Opthalmol. 2010;149(1):160-169.

Current research from an American study of blindness in old age offers yet another reason to quit smoking. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness among Americans age 65 and over. Findings from this investigation show that even after age 80, smoking increased the risk of developing AMD. This report is published in the January 2010 issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

The research team assessed retinal photographs of 2,000 women taken at ages 78 and 83. They checked for signs of AMD, and then did further research to discover whether or not smoking affects the women's risk of acquiring the disease. The most significant findings were that overall the women who had been smokers had an 11% higher rate of AMD than women of the same age who had not smoked. Additionally, among the women who were over age 80, the smokers were 5.5 times more likely to contract AMD than the nonsmokers.

This study concludes that smoking is the second most common risk factor for AMD, age being the first. The reason for this is possibly that smoking reduces levels of antioxidants in the blood, changing the blood flow to the eyes and reducing the amount of pigmentation in the retina. Quitting smoking, even at advanced age, has great health benefits.