Eye on the Cure

With a population of about 17,000, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, is a typical Midwestern community and, according to its website, “a thriving city and wonderful place to call home.” With attractions such as the beautiful 6,000-acre Beaver Dam Lake and the Midwest Cream Cheese Competition, who am I to argue? But most important, at least in the fight against blindness, Beaver Dam plays a big role in the search for knowledge about age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Launched in 1987 by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and funded by the National Eye Institute, the Beaver Dam Eye Study has been collecting prevalence, incidence, and risk factor data for age-related eye disease, including AMD, with the goal of better understanding the conditions. About 5,000 of Beaver Dam’s 6,000 citizens aged 43 through 80 were originally enrolled in the study, which has been tracking eye disease in five-year increments.

According to Dr. Ronald Klein, a University of Wisconsin physician-researcher involved in the study, Beaver Dam was selected as the site because the city’s residents had been highly reliable participants in prior studies.

One important observation from the study on AMD genetics was recently reported by Dr. Klein in the Archives of Ophthalmology. He and his colleagues determined that 80 percent of people who had high genetic risk factors did not get late AMD, the stage of the disease associated with significant vision loss, by the age of 80. In other words, genetics is ultimately not a good predictor of who will get late AMD. However, information on genetics does help researchers better understand the disease and identify targets for treatments.

Dr. Klein says that the best way to determine if you are at risk of getting late AMD is through regular visits to your eye doctor. By examining your retina, he or she can identify the deposits known as drusen, which put you at risk for late AMD and associated vision loss.

Drusen usually start appearing long before the disease is advanced. When the drusen become large, they’re associated with increased risk of progression to late disease.

The best thing you can do to minimize your AMD risk is to not smoke. Eating lots of fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, getting exercise and protecting your eyes in bright sunlight may also help minimize AMD risk.

Does that mean you shouldn’t occasionally enjoy a piece of cake like the one pictured above form the Midwest Cream Cheese Competition? No. The operative words here are: “a piece” and “occasionally.” But that sure does look like “Dam” good cheesecake.

Pictured, above: “Checkers,” an entry in the 2011 Midwest Cream Cheese Competition.