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Determining Soil-transmitted Helminth Infection Status and Physical Fitness of School-aged Children
Published on: August 22, 2012
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Public Health.
Xinyu Gu1, Pauline Terebuh1, Rong Xu2
1Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine - - Cleveland, OH, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Alzheimer'S & Dementia : the Journal of the Alzheimer'S Association
|December 23, 2025
Summary
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) does not increase dementia risk and may reduce Alzheimer's disease risk. Blindness, however, significantly elevates the risk for all types of dementia.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Neurology
- Gerontology
Background:
- A potential link exists between age-related macular degeneration (AMD), blindness, and increased dementia risk.
- It remains unclear if AMD's association with dementia stems from its pathology or the resulting vision loss.
- Amyloid-beta (Aβ) proteins found in AMD retinal drusen complicate the understanding of this relationship.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether dementia risk is associated with AMD pathogenesis or with blindness.
- To differentiate the impact of AMD itself versus blindness on dementia risk.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective cohort study was performed using deidentified electronic health records from TriNetX, including patients over 50.
- Compared non-blind patients with and without AMD (exudative and non-exudative) to non-blind individuals without AMD.
- Compared blind and non-blind patients for Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular dementia (VaD), and all-cause dementia risk over five years, using propensity matching and sensitivity analyses.
Main Results:
- Non-blind patients with AMD showed no increased dementia risk; in fact, a reduced risk for AD and all-cause dementia was observed.
- Blindness was strongly associated with a significantly increased risk of AD, VaD, and all-cause dementia (HRs ranging from 1.383 to 1.665).
- These patterns remained consistent across different age groups and within the blind patient cohort.
Conclusions:
- Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is linked to a reduced risk of Alzheimer's dementia, independent of blindness.
- Previous associations between AMD and dementia likely reflect the confounding effect of blindness, not shared AMD pathology.
- Potential protective mechanisms may involve AMD treatments, such as AREDS2 vitamins, which could also benefit cognitive health.
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