Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which affects about 200 million people worldwide and can result in legal blindness, impairs an area of the eye (retina) used for reading, driving and many other critical daily tasks. A new study of large existing patient datasets indicates genetic and demographic factors that increase the risk for developing AMD. In the study, recently published in Nature Genetics, a team of scientists worked with the Million Veteran Program (MVP) of the VA Office of Research and Development, a large biobank of veterans recruited at more than 60 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers nationally, to examine demographic, lifestyle, clinical and genetic risk profiles for AMD.
