Diabetes mellitus and early age-related macular degeneration.

Objective: To examine the association of diabetes mellitus and early age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in Korean adults 50 years and older.

Methods: This study included 3008 participants aged 50 to 87 years. Early AMD was assessed from retinal photographs based on a modified Wisconsin AMD grading system. Diabetes mellitus was defined as a fasting glucose level of 126 mg/dL or greater or the use of antidiabetic medications. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between diabetes mellitus and early AMD.

Results: There were 88 subjects with early AMD and 315 subjects with diabetes mellitus. After adjusting for age, sex, current smoking, obesity, and hypertension, significant association was found between diabetes mellitus and early AMD. Subjects with diabetes mellitus were more likely to have early AMD (odds ratio, 1.87; 95% confidence interval, 1.07-3.28) than were those without diabetes mellitus.

Conclusion: There is a relationship between diabetes mellitus and early AMD in Korean adults 50 years and older. The underlying biological processes remain to be determined.