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Study Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may increase risk of dementia. A potential pathway for this risk is through cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD). In the context of an existing randomized trial of aspirin for primary prevention, we aimed to investigate OSA's impact on CSVD imaging measures and explore whether aspirin effects these measures over 3 years that differ in the presence or absence of OSA., Methods: A sub-study of the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly randomized placebo-controlled trial of low-dose aspirin. Community-dwelling participants aged 70 years and above, without cognitive impairment, cardiovascular disease or known OSA completed an unattended limited-channel sleep study that calculated the oxygen desaturation index and apnea-hypopnea index. At baseline and 3 years later, volumes of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and silent brain infarctions (SBI) were measured on 1.5 Tesla brain magnetic resonance imaging, and retinal vessel calibers were calculated from retinal vascular imaging., Results: Mild and moderate/severe OSA was detected in 48.9% and 29.9%, respectively, of the 311 participants, who had a mean age of 73.7 years (SD 3.4 years), 38.6% female. OSA of any severity did not associate with WMH volumes, SBI, nor with retinal vessel calibers at baseline, nor with change in these measures in the 277 participants with repeated measures acquired after 3 years. OSA of any severity did not interact with aspirin on change in these measures over 3 years., Conclusion: In healthy older adults undiagnosed OSA was not associated with retinal vascular calibers and neuroimaging measures of CSVD., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Sleep Research Society.)

In this study, we examined the relationship between exposure to siblings and 1) the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and 2) C-reactive protein levels. We retrospectively analyzed pooled cross-sectional data from 2 studies: the Cardiovascular Health and Age-Related Maculopathy Study (2001-2002) and the Age-Related Maculopathy Statin Study (2004-2006). Associations between number of siblings and AMD were assessed by using multinomial logistic regression. Associations between number of siblings and C-reactive protein levels were examined by using a generalized linear model for γ distribution. A higher number of younger siblings was associated with significantly lower odds of early AMD in those with a family history of AMD (odds ratio = 0.2, 95% confidence interval: 0.1, 0.8) (P = 0.022) but was unrelated to AMD for those who had no family history of the disease (odds ratio = 1.0, 95% confidence interval: 0.9, 1.2) (P = 0.874). A higher number of younger siblings correlated with lower C-reactive protein levels (β = -0.19, 95% confidence interval: -0.38, -0.01) (P = 0.036). This supports the theory that immune modulation contributes to AMD pathogenesis and suggests that exposure to younger siblings might be protective when there is a family history of AMD.

Little evidence exists regarding associations between age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and moderate alcohol consumption, patterns of consumption, or different types of alcoholic beverage. The authors examined associations between AMD prevalence and alcohol intake using 20,963 participants from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study aged 40-69 years at baseline (1990-1994). Participants' alcohol consumption was determined from a structured interview at baseline. At follow-up from 2003 to 2007, digital macula photographs of both eyes were taken and evaluated for early and late AMD signs. Drinking more than 20 g of alcohol per day was associated with an approximate 20% increase in the odds of early AMD (odds ratio = 1.21, 95% confidence interval: 1.06, 1.38; P = 0.004) when compared with those who reported no alcohol intake at baseline, having adjusted for sex, age, smoking, country of birth, education, physical activity, and energy from food. This positive association was apparent for wine, beer, and spirits. The estimates were similar for both sexes. The odds ratio for those drinking more than 20 g of alcohol per day for late AMD was 1.44 (95% confidence interval: 0.85, 2.45; P = 0.17). These results show a modest association between alcohol consumption and increased AMD risk.

The apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) has been found to be associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Reported associations have been questioned, as they are opposite those for Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular disease. The authors examined associations between APOE genotype and AMD using a case-control study (2,287 cases and 2,287 controls individually matched on age, sex, and country of origin) nested within Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study participants aged 48-86 years at AMD detection. The odds ratio for early AMD among participants with ε2-containing genotypes (ε2ε2/ε2ε3/ε2ε4) was 1.32 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11, 1.58; P = 0.002) versus persons with genotype ε3ε3. Associations with early AMD varied by smoking status; ε2-containing genotypes were positively associated with early AMD for never and previous smokers (never smokers: odds ratio (OR) = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.12, 1.76 (P = 0.003); previous smokers: OR = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.93 (P = 0.05)) but not for current smokers (OR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.34, 1.30 (P = 0.2; interaction P = 0.05). The ε4-containing genotype group (ε3ε4/ε4ε4) had an inverse association with early AMD among current smokers only (OR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.22, 0.77 (P = 0.005)). These results highlight the importance of stratifying by smoking status in elderly populations. Smokers who survive to old age may be more likely to possess unknown genotypes which modify exposure-disease associations.

Evidence for an association between age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and obesity is inconsistent. The authors examined associations between adiposity and AMD prevalence using 21,287 participants from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study aged 40-69 years at baseline (1990-1994). For men, each increase of 0.1 in waist/hip ratio (~1 standard deviation) was associated with a 13% increase in the odds of early AMD (odds ratio = 1.13, 95% confidence interval: 1.01, 1.26; P = 0.03) and a 75% increase in the odds of late AMD (odds ratio = 1.75, 95% confidence interval: 1.11, 2.76; P = 0.02). No other adiposity measure was associated with early AMD for men. Smoking status modified the relation between waist/hip ratio and early AMD (P = 0.05), with no association for former smokers. For women, there were inverse associations with early AMD for all adiposity measures (odds ratios = 0.89-0.93; P = 0.002-0.02), but no associations were observed for late AMD. This study confirms abdominal obesity as an AMD risk factor for men despite a survivorship effect from competing risks in morbidity and mortality. The inverse associations for women may reflect weaker true positive associations with AMD that are insufficient to overcome the survivorship effect. New data are provided on complex interactions between environmental exposures and AMD risk.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness among older people, and diet has been postulated to alter risk of AMD. To evaluate associations between red meat and chicken intake and AMD, the authors conducted a cohort study of 6,734 persons aged 58-69 years in 1990-1994 in Melbourne, Australia. Meat intake was estimated from a food frequency questionnaire at baseline. At follow-up (2003-2006), bilateral digital macular photographs were taken and evaluated for AMD (1,680 cases of early AMD, 77 cases of late AMD). Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios, adjusted for age, smoking, and other potential confounders. Higher red meat intake was positively associated with early AMD; the odds ratio for consumption of red meat > or =10 times/week versus <5 times/week was 1.47 (95% confidence interval: 1.21, 1.79; P-trend < 0.001). Similar trends toward increasing prevalence of early AMD were seen with higher intakes of fresh and processed red meat. Conversely, consumption of chicken > or =3.5 times/week versus <1.5 times/week was inversely associated with late AMD (odds ratio = 0.43, 95% confidence interval: 0.20, 0.91; P-trend = 0.007). These results suggest that different meats may differently affect AMD risk and may be a target for lifestyle modification.