Alex Young , 2025-05-04 18:01:00
Key takeaways:
- A hospital in New York had a higher percentage of undiagnosed AMD compared with CDC reported values.
- Researchers hope appropriate screening can address the issue before the disease advances.
SALT LAKE CITY — The prevalence of undiagnosed age-related macular degeneration was higher in an urban setting vs. established national averages, according to a study.
Adriana Kaganovski, BA, and colleagues conducted a post-hoc analysis of a cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of AMD in a diverse cohort of urban primary care patients.
“Our main goal here was to see what the prevalence of undiagnosed AMD was in our patient population in diverse patient settings in New York City,” she said at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting. “What we found was that there is significantly higher percentage of undiagnosed AMD compared to CDC reported values.”
Researchers recruited 312 patients undergoing routine health services from a primary care physician at Mount Sinai Hospital-Union Square in New York City. They read color fundus photographs from each patient aged between 50 and 89 years and categorized them as referable or non-referable for AMD. They defined referable as intermediate AMD (medium drusen 63–124 microns) or late AMD (large drusen >125 microns or any intermediate drusen).
Kaganovski and colleagues found that the prevalence of AMD was higher among all ages groups at Mount Sinai Hospital compared with the projected stratified values reported by the CDC. In the patients aged 50 to 54 years, the prevalence was 39.47% compared with just 7.84% in the CDC reported value.
“We hope that we can bring to attention that AMD is far more prevalent than believed before, and really make sure that there is appropriate screening protocols so that we can we address those issues before they become intermediate and advanced,” Kaganovski said.
Sources/Disclosures
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Kaganovski A, et al. Elevated prevalence of age-related macular degeneration in urban primary care setting. Presented at: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting; May 4-8, 2025; Salt Lake City.
Disclosures:
Kaganovski reports no relevant financial disclosures.
