Real Health

Blindness in old age is a study According to a large extent hereditary. If the parents are affected by the disease, is increasing the disease risk of their children.

Course of the disease als such do not seem to affect these genes against. For patients was the bad news, because the genes discovered only slightly as a starting point suitable for Drugs, told the University of Bonn. The study is published in the journal PLoS ONE published.

A favorable influence on disease progression is hardly possible under the new findings so far. Often, the disease will only diagnosert, if occur first visual disturbances. "If the photoreceptor cells are already beginning to wither, but possibly other unknown factors, is important. These factors must now be found," said Bonner retinal specialist and lead investigator Hendrik Scholl.

The age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of blindness in the wesmics industrialized nations. In Germany, an estimated 4.5 million people are affected. In the disease, the place of sharpest vision on the retina, the macula, are increasingly affected. Experts estimate that about 60 percent of the disease risk is genetic. Another risk factor is the smoking.

The study involved around 600 patients and an equal number of healthy individuals wereeight German centers participating & Aachen, Bonn, Heidelberg, Leipzig, Munich, Munster, Regensburg and Würzburg.