A recent study was published in Acta Ophthalmologica that highlights an increased risk for women using systemic corticosteroids in developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Researchers examined data from over 16,000 Finnish women born between 1932 and 1946 with an average age of 54.8 The records of these patients were followed from 1993 to 2021. The health information of these women was derived from questionnaires they completed and medication information was obtained from the Finnish Social Insurance Institution's national drug reimbursement registry.
Long-term medication users were defined as those who had taken a medication for five consecutive years. Drugs that were included in the analysis were diabetic medications, metformin, blood thinning medications, and systemic corticosteroids and immunosuppressants. Researchers received AMD diagnoses from local healthcare facilities.
Follow-up with the women found that 7.8% of them developed AMD (64.7% were dry AMD and 35.2% were wet AMD). Women who were long-term corticosteroid users had a 35% higher risk of developing AMD while women on long-term immunosuppressants had a 62% higher risk.
Researchers noted that the study did not identify whether these medications were factors in the development of AMD or if it was the underlying diseases that the drugs were treating were the reason for the increased risk.
