The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of an age-related macular degeneration according to gender of Korean adults. The subjects are composed of 3,274 male and 4,352 female ones over aged 50 who responded to a questionnaire on health and a check-up survey in the 5th National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2012). The results were as follows.
1. In the case of men, the prevalence of the early stage of the disease is 8.8%, 10.3% in women. That of the late stage is 1.4% in men 0.7% in women.
2. The odds ratio in the early stage of an age-related macular degeneration, in the case of male subjects, increased about 1.050 times when they got one year older, 1.011 times when AST rose by 1IU/L, 1.020 times when vitamin D rose by 1ng/mL. The odds ratio of the male subjects who had diabetes was 0.696 times lower than those who didn''t have. In the case of female subjects, by comparison, the odds ratio increased about 1.080 times when they got one year older and decreased 0.997 times when platelets increased by 1Thous/uL.
3. The odds ratio in the late stage of an age-related macular degeneration, in the case of male subjects, increased about 1.083 times as they got one year older. When the male subjects who were negative in hepatitis B surface antigen were set as a criterion, the odds ratio of positive ones was 3.448 times higher than that of negative ones. By comparison, that of the female subjects increased about 1.126 times when they got one year older. In addition, the odds ratio of those who had finished over high school was 2.481 times higher than those under middle school and it decreased about 0.991 times as platelets increased by 1Thous/uL.
In conclusion, except age, the risk factors of an age-related macular degeneration in the early stage of the male subjects are AST and vitamin D. In the late stage, whether hepatitis B surface antigen is positive or not is an important factor. In the case of female subjects, the range of platelets is the risk factor in the early stage, but in the late stage, that of platelets and the level of education are the ones.