Smoking May Hurt Eyes

Study Shows Smoking May Make Late Age-Related Macular Degeneration More Likely

(WebMD)  The long list of health risks associated with smoking just got a little longer.

New research shows that smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to develop the late stages of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

AMD is the leading cause of blindness in Western nations, according to researcher Jennifer Tan, MBBS, and colleagues.

Tan works in Sydney, Australia, at the University of Sydney's Centre for Vision Research and Westmead Hospital's ophthalmology department.

Tan's team followed 2,454 Australians aged 49 and older for a decade.
Participants got their eyes checked, reported their smoking habits, and completed a survey about their diets at the start, midpoint, and end of the
10-year study.

Most participants – 51.5% – were lifelong nonsmokers. An additional 35.5% were formersmokers. The remaining 13% were current smokers.

Smoking and AMD

The researchers adjusted the data based on participants' age, sex, and other AMD risk factors. Despite those adjustments, current smokers were four times more likely than nonsmokers to develop late AMD.

On average, smokers developed late AMD when they were nearly 69 years old. That's about five years earlier than nonsmokers.

The study shows no association between smoking and the early stages of age-related macular degeneration.

The data also suggest that low levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol and rarely eating fish may team up with smoking to make late AMD more likely.
But that's not certain.

The findings appear in the Archives of Ophthalmology.

[michellem99-2009]

Some are born with legal blindness. Those of us who are know no differet. Yes 2rd smoke causes health issues and smokers get health issues plu. Heart.lung,diabetes,COPD. My father is on osygen 24/7. My room mate has the health issues said in this post plus had 5 heart attacks. fisrt in Sept 00. He quit cold turkey. He is 55. He is fully sighted. We have been together 24 years.He never smoked in the apt.

[extremophil]

I know for a fact that smoking hurt my vision. It happened right after my ex-wife put her cigarette out in my eye.

[rushman71]

Guess what, people (CBS), everything is bad for you!!! Air, water, fire, land--everything!!! No matter how you look at things, we are all going to die one way or another. People today are so filled with worry about second hand smoke that they would believe they die just by walking by a smoker!!! Give me a break!!! Has there EVER been a study about people who don't smoke but end up dying of lung cancer because of smoke!!! I've never heard of such a thing!!!

[tcoleman12]

That is assuming the smoker makes it to that late stage, right?

I hear that beef is bad for you, at times. I know that too much water can kill you, or not enough. Fish is good for you...but not too much.

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[uceslady]

I smoke and am already blind due to myopia. Glasses in 4th grade and smoking at 18....is there any connection? Some more propaganda!

[michellem99-2009]

You really don't want AMD. I don't have it. Know some one does. It is not easy. It is blindness. You have learn to live with it. It means mass transit,using a white care if needed,learning use what sight left,magnifiers,talking books,large print, talking clock,learning a whole new way of doing things. People do rip the blind off.You may joke about it. Don't. You have something I don't, full sight. I am legally blind in one eye and totally blind the other. So I know that life. I hate my blindness. I was born too early and so years they knew very little. I am 52. I never smoked but smokes makes my eyes burn. It is banned in my home.

[kennergirl]

Yeah we get it...smoking is bad. Maybe if I can't see I won't have to read about studies like this.

[incog-nito]

Now for the latest study: Smoking costs money. Researchers, working under a huge taxpayer research grant, have found that smoking costs smokers money because, they have determined, that most smokers have to buy the cigarettes in order to, quote, smoke them. Results are inconclusive, however, and they cautioned that additional research is needed, with lots of grant money, of course.

[grammawhamma]

On average, smokers developed late AMD when they were nearly 69 years old. That's about five years earlier than nonsmokers.

WHAT...smokers live that long!!?? Now "that" is news worthy. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. lol