Dietary omega-3 fatty acids and the risk for age-related maculopathy: the Alienor Study

PURPOSE. Previous studies have suggested a lower risk for agerelated maculopathy (ARM) in subjects with high dietary intake of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The authors report the associations of ARM with past dietary intakes in French elderly subjects. METHODS. The Alienor Study is a population-based epidemiologic study on nutrition and age-related eye diseases performed in residents of Bordeaux 73 years of age and older. Six hundred sixty-six subjects (1289 eyes) with complete data were included in the analyses. ARM was classified from retinal photographs taken in 2006 to 2008 in five exclusive stages: late neovascular ARM (n 21 subjects, 29 eyes); late atrophic ARM (n 19 subjects, 33 eyes); large soft indistinct drusen and/or reticular drusen and/or large distinct drusen with pigment abnormalities (early ARM2, n 67 subjects, 100 eyes); large soft distinct drusen alone or pigment abnormalities alone (early ARM1, n 119 subjects, 163 eyes); and no ARM (n 440 subjects, 964 eyes). Dietary intakes were estimated from a 24-hour dietary recall performed by dieticians (2001‐2002). Associations were estimated using logistic Generalized Estimating Equation. RESULTS. After multivariate adjustment, subjects with high intake of long-chain omega-3 PUFA showed a decreased risk for early ARM1 (odds ratio [OR], 0.83; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.71‐0.98; P 0.03) and late neovascular ARM (OR, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.08‐0.83; P 0.02). Associations with late atrophic ARM were in the same direction but did not reach statistical significance (OR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.52‐1.06; P 0.10). Overall, high intakes of long-chain omega-3 PUFA were associated with reduced risk for late ARM (OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.39‐ 0.88; P 0.01). CONCLUSIONS. These results confirm a decreased risk for ARM in subjects with high intake of long-chain omega-3 PUFA. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2011;52:6004‐6011) DOI:10.1167/iovs.117254