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Serum beta carotene, alpha tocopherol, and age-related maculopathy: the Blue Mountains Eye Study
W Smith1, P Mitchell, C Rochester
1National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Australia.
Purpose:
To assess associations between serum beta carotene, alpha tocopherol, and age-related maculopathy.
Methods:
We studied 156 subjects with age-related maculopathy matched for age, sex, and month of blood collection to 156 control subjects without age-related maculopathy. Subjects were identified from the Blue Mountains Eye Study: those with late age-related macular degeneration and early age-related maculopathy using examination and grading of retinal photographs, and control subjects without age-related maculopathy randomly sampled from the study population.
Result:
Neither serum alpha tocopherol nor beta carotene was significantly associated with age-related maculopathy.
Conclusion:
These findings provide no evidence of a protective association between serum alpha tocopherol or beta carotene and age-related maculopathy.
