Because hypertension and wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are both found in elderly patients, their relationship is unclear. This study, published in Acta Ophthalmologica, attempted to analyze the association between hypertension and wet AMD and how their co-occurrence may impact wet AMD treatment strategies.
The study relied on electronic healthcare records from 2002 to 2019. A total of 3,096 patients with wet AMD were divided into subgroups based on hypertension status, age, sex, the need for vitrectomy surgery, and the number of anti-VEGF injections received.
Ultimately, it was found that wet AMD was significantly associated with hypertension status. Moreover, after adjustment for age and sex, patients with wet AMD and hypertension were found to be significantly more likely to receive more anti-VEGF injections than those without hypertension.
The researchers concluded that these findings might be beneficial in the prevention and treatment of wet AMD in patients with hypertension [1].
Source:
[1] Wang, T., Xia, J., Yuan, M., Wu, X., Zhu, Y., Chen, C., Bergunder, S. J., Liu, Z., Chen, W., Huang, K., & Lin, H. (2021). Hypertension affects the treatment of wet age‐related macular degeneration. Acta Ophthalmologica. https://doi.org/10.1111/aos.14791
