Calcifications in the eye increase risk of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by more than six times, new research has discovered.
Scientists from Queen’s University Belfast have worked with the University of Alabama in Birmingham, USA, UK material scientists and US clinical ophthalmology practices to find that calcified nodules found in the retina can further the chances of eye diseases to progress to AMD much more than realised.
The research used clinical retinal images of patients from US ophthalmologists and molecular analysis of eye samples from the laboratory at the University of Alabama.
Dr Christine Curcio, professor in ophthalmology at the University of Alabama, said: ‘By fully understanding the causes behind the changing environment in which these large, damaging nodules grow we could design new ways to intervene with their growth earlier in the disease process than is currently possible.’