Vasodilators are commonly used to lower blood pressure and the recent suggestion that they may contribute to an increased risk of age related macular degeneration is of great concern as vasodilators as hypotensive agents are used widely. London Medical has a large interest in the treatment of age related macular degeneration having been pioneers in the use of intravitreal agents in the private sector and having done 6000 injections in the last 5 years.

The research, published in Ophthalmology recently was based on a longitudinal study of 4926 residents in Beaver Dam in Wisconsin, USA. People taking vasodilators had a 72% higher risk of developing early AMD (confidence intervals 1.25 – 2.38) while similar increases in risk were seen for the cardiac vasodilator nitroglycerin and oral beta blockers.

The mechanism for this association can only be guessed at and may involve the effect of these drugs on the blood flow in the choroid of the eye beneath the retina. We asked Mr Phil Hykin, Consultant Ophthalmologist at LM Eyes for his comment on this article and he said: “This is an important finding as such drugs are widely used in the population that get AMD. The first step is that these findings need to be replicated and we need to be sure that we can distinguish between the effects of hypertension per se and the specific effects of these drugs used to treat hypertension. It is unlikely that there would be a large enough clinical trial to tease out these findings. Patients should not stop taking their blood pressure medications because of this report”.