Submitted by administrator on
AMD, or age related macular degeneration is the developing worlds most common cause of blindness and a condition that affects people the world over. The condition which generally affects older adults, as suggested by the name, results in a loss of vision in the centre of the visual field, or macula, due to retinal damage. Perhaps unsurprisingly , the eye related condition can progress to blindness in a sufferer with areas such as Africa and Asia shown to have heightened population percentage patients than the western world and Europe. A recent study from the University of Copenhagen and Glostrup Hospital in Denmark has however shown that across the last decade, significant changes have occurred to the volume of people becoming registered blind from the disease in the Scandinavian country of Denmark. In this instance, figures show as much as a 50% decline in the number of people contracting the condition.
AMD, which can take two forms, wet and dry, generally sees a patient develop progressive blurred vision along with other sight affecting issues such as a lack colour and contrast recognition, visual distortions as well as 'black spots' or areas which simply show shadows or blank regions in a persons vision. One symptom which can be particularly distressing is that of 'face blindness' or an inability to distinguish or recognise faces. This can generally be linked to a patients peripheral vision remaining intact while the central vision, which is used to focus on objects and individuals, becomes affected.
The study from Denmark researched over 11,000 new cases of registered blindness in the country and when compared with existing statistics found that while the rate of blindness from AMD was 522/1000000 at the turn of the century, up to date stats from 2010 showed a massive drop to just 257/1000000 in residents over the age of 50. So what was the major factor in this drop? As the name suggests, the condition affects patients as age progresses and as such is not something you can catch, so the rate decline cannot be put down to scientific advancements in containment or immunization of the disease. With family history and a persons genes also likely causes, the sharp improvement in the numbers of people becoming blinded seems to be pointed firmly at the introduction of new and more effective treatments available for wet AMD, particularly after 2006, according to the researchers.