Retinopathy is more common, but age-related macular degeneration carries more visual impairment: a cross-sectional study of US adults graded from the same fundus photographs

AMD is linked to substantially higher presenting visual impairment than retinopathy in US adults aged ≥40 years, with impairment rates of 14.57% (AMD only) and 26.15% (both).

• Why it matters: Retinopathy and AMD are both common on fundus images, but their relative frequency and their distinct visual consequences have been estimated using separate samples.
• What they did: Using NHANES 2005–2008 fundus photographs from 5593 US adults aged ≥40 years, the study graded both conditions from the same images and compared visual impairment (better-eye acuity worse than 20/40) across four groups.
• The result: After age adjustment, visual impairment remained associated with AMD only (OR 2.23; 1.54–3.23) and with both conditions (OR 4.09; 2.28–7.37), but not with retinopathy only (OR 1.32; 0.91–1.90).

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