Low-Dose Aspirin fails to Effectively Prevent Age-Related Macular Degeneration: JAMA

The study involved a total of 4,993 participants with 3,171 having complete data for analysis. The participants were randomly assigned to receive either 100 mg of enteric-coated aspirin daily or a placebo. The primary outcomes measured were the incidence of AMD and the progression from early or intermediate to late-stage AMD.

The results indicated no significant difference in AMD incidence between the aspirin and placebo groups. AMD developed in 19.4% of participants in the aspirin group when compared to 19.1% in the placebo group this also yielded a relative risk (RR) of 1.02 (95% CI, 0.85-1.22; P = .86). Also, the progression to late-stage AMD was observed in 2.3% of the aspirin group and 3.1% of the placebo group (RR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.36-1.44; P = .36), suggesting a trend but not a statistically significant reduction in the progression.

The study concluded that low-dose aspirin that was taken over an average follow-up period of 3.1 years did not significantly impact the incidence or progression of AMD. The research also noted that while there was a slight indication of reduced progression to late-stage AMD in the aspirin group, the evidence was not strong enough due to the low number of cases observed.

Source:

Robman, L. D., Wolfe, R., Woods, R. L., Thao, L. T. P., Makeyeva, G. A., Hodgson, L. A. B., Lepham, Y.-A., Jachno, K., Phung, J., Maguire, E., Luong, H., Trevaks, R. E., Ward, S. A., Fitzgerald, S. M., Orchard, S. G., Lacaze, P., Storey, E., Abhayaratna, W. P., Nelson, M. R., … McNeil, J. J. (2024). Effect of Low-Dose Aspirin on the Course of Age-Related Macular Degeneration. In JAMA Ophthalmology. study's (AMA). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2024.1584