Absence of an Association between Macular Degeneration and Young-Onset Dementia

A few population-based studies have reported an association between prior age-related macular degeneration and senile dementia. No study has explored a possible link between prior macular degeneration and young-onset dementia (YOD). This case-control study aimed to evaluate the association of YOD with prior macular degeneration diagnosed in the 5-year period before their index date. Data for this retrospective observational study were retrieved from Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) dataset. A total of 36,577 patients with newly diagnosed YOD from January 2010 to December 2017 were identified as the study cohort, assigning their diagnosis date as their index date. Comparison patients were identified by propensity score-matching (three per case, n = 109,731 controls) from the remaining NHI beneficiaries of the period, their index date being the date of their first ambulatory care claim in the year of diagnosis of their matched YOD case. Chi-square test revealed no significant difference in the prevalence of prior macular degeneration between cases and controls (1.1% vs. 1.0%, p = 0.111). Conditional logistic regression analysis also showed an unadjusted odds ratio (OR) for prior macular degeneration of 1.098 among cases relative to controls (95% CI: 0.9797-1.232). Adjusted analysis confirmed that YOD was not associated with prior macular degeneration, adjusted odds ratio 1.098 (95% CI = 0.979-1.232). We conclude that patients with macular degeneration are not at increased risk for YOD.