Recent studies have established the role of dietary and supplementary calcium and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). However, the results are mixed. The objective of this research is to evaluate the association of baseline dietary and supplementary calcium intake with the progression of AMD.
This is a secondary analysis study that involves 4,751 patients enrolled in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS). It included men and women with varying severity of AMD, with the primary outcomes and measures being the development of late AMD, geographic atrophy, or neovascular AMD.
Out of 4,751 participants, those with the highest quintile of dietary calcium intake had a lower risk of developing late AMD, central geographic atrophy, any geographic atrophy. The participants with the highest supplementary calcium intake had a lower risk of developing neovascular AMD than those who did not take calcium supplements. The effect was more profound in women. The findings were not evident in men, as too few men took calcium supplements to allow for the analysis.
The result concluded that higher levels of dietary and supplementary calcium intake were associated with a lower incidence of age-related macular degeneration in both men and women. The effects, however, were more evident and profound in women.
Ref: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/fullarticle/2728258
