AREDS meaning in Medical ?

Answer: What is Age-Related Eye Disease Study mean?

The Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) was a clinical trial sponsored by the National Eye Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health in the United States. The study was designed to

investigate the natural history and risk factors of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataracts, andevaluate the effects of high doses of antioxidants and zinc on the progression of the two conditions in those with AMD.

The study followed 3640 individuals for an average of 6.3 years between 1992 and 2001. The researchers concluded that high levels of antioxidants and zinc can reduce some people's risk of developing advanced AMD by about 25 percent. Advanced AMD is defined as either choroidal neovascularization (wet macular degeneration) or atrophic age-related macular degeneration (geographic atrophy). The anti-oxidants and zinc supplements only reduced the risk of progression to wet macular degeneration. Those that benefited from the dietary supplements included those with intermediate-stage AMD and those with advanced AMD in one eye only. The supplements had no significant effect on the development or progression of cataracts. "High levels" in this case were defined to be:

500 milligrams of vitamin C;400 international units of vitamin E;15 milligrams of beta-carotene (or 25,000 international units of vitamin A);80 milligrams of the dietary mineral zinc, in the form of zinc oxide; andtwo milligrams of copper as cupric oxide, added to prevent copper deficiency anemia, a condition associated with high levels of zinc intake.

The results were reported in the October 2001 issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

Bausch & Lomb was a collaborator in the study. They and other suppliers, provide supplements pre-packaged with formulations based on this study.

Studies in 2016 and 2018 have now shown that this average 25 percent reduction in risk from the combination of anti-oxidants and zinc varies by genotype. Some patients have as much as an 85% reduction in progression risk, while others see a 3 fold (300%) increase in risk of progression.

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