Large decrease in age-related macular degeneration in baby boomers compared to previous generations

Because of increased life expectancy and an increase in the elderly population with aging of the Baby Boom generation , large numbers of adults are expected to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in older adults.

A new study of 4,819 participants from studies that examined residents of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, who were between the ages of 43 to 84 in 1987 and 1988 and their adult children who were ages 21 to 84 in 2005 through 2008. The participants were at risk for developing AMD based on eye images obtained when they entered the studies. The research, by Karen J. Cruickshanks, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, and coauthors, then measured new cases of AMD at five-year follow-up.

Results of this work showed that the risk of AMD decreased by a relative 60 percent for each generation.

Study limitations include that these groups were mostly non-Hispanic white individuals and the results may not be generalizable to other racial/ethnic groups. The study concludes that the five-year risk for AMD declined by generation throughout the 20th century. Factors that explain this decline in risk are not known.