Approach of Turkish ophthalmologists to micronutrition in age-related macular degeneration

To evaluate the knowledge and behaviors of ophthalmologists in Turkey concerning micronutrition support in patients with age related macular degeneration (ARMD).

This study involved 1,845 ophthalmologists. A scientific poll was sent to all participants by email. The survey covered the following: demographic features, subspecialty knowledge about micronutrition preference for prescribing micronutrition to age related macular degeneration patients, and the reason for this preference. If a participant indicated that he or she prescribed micronutrition, the participant was also asked to indicate the source of the treatment and supplemental treatments.

Of 1,845 ophthalmologists, 249 responded to the survey. Of the respondents, 9% (22) never, 43% (107) sometimes, 37% (92) frequently, and 11% (27) always used micronutrition. The most frequent prescribing subgroup was general ophthalmology (22%), followed by the retina-uvea subspecialty (13.9%). The micronutrition prescribing ratio was 54.8% in retina-uvea specialists when the "frequent" and "always" responses were combined. There was no statistically significant difference between subgroups with respect to prescribing micronutrition. Among the ophthalmologists prescribing micronutrition, 57.1% of them did not use the Age-Related Eye Disease Study-1 (AREDS) criteria, and only 31.3% prescribe micronutrition according to AREDS criteria. The results for the general ophthalmologist and retina-uvea specialist subgroups were similar, 56.3% vs 20.2%, and 54.1% vs 36.1%, respectively. Micronutrition was not recommended for the following reasons: expensive (55.4%), low patient expectancy (40%), no effect (30%), and low patient drug compliance (25.4%). Moreover, 55.2% of the clinicians recommended physical activities, dietary changes, and smoking cessation; 7.3% did not recommend these behavioral changes.

This survey demonstrated that micronutrition preference in age related macular degeneration was low in ophthalmologists in Turkey. Additionally, retina specialists have a lower rate of prescribing micronutrition. Micronutrition support and behavior such as smoking cessation, dietary changes, etc. should be recommended more often to patients with age related macular degeneration.