A new study has found that anti-inflammatory drugs used to treat dementia may reduce the risk of patients developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), but not by very much.
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs), used to treat Alzheimer disease (AD) have anti-inflammatory effects. Their impact on AMD was investigated because the eye disease is “hypothesised to result, in part, from inflammatory reactions in the macula”, the investigators said.
… each additional year of AChEI treatment was associated with a 6% lower hazard of AMD
The study, published in JAMA Ophthalmology online, was a propensity score–matched retrospective cohort study. It took place at health care facilities within the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system from January 2000 through September 2023.
Participants included patients diagnosed with AD between ages 55 and 80 years with no pre-existing diagnosis of AMD in the VA database.
The investigators found that each additional year of AChEI treatment was associated with a 6% lower hazard of AMD (hazard ratio, 0.94; 95% CI, (0.89-0.99).
The investigators noted that randomised clinical trials would be needed to determine if there is a cause-and-effect relationship and further research is required to validate these findings across diverse populations.
Reference
1. Sutton, S.S., Magagnoli, J., Cummings, T.H., et al., Alzheimer disease treatment with acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors and incident age-related macular degeneration. JAMA Ophthalmol. Published online 4 Jan 2024. DOI:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2023.6014.
