A large UK study has found that small increases in air pollution are linked to an increased risk of
irreversible sight loss from age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The study is the first to assess
the connection between air pollution and both diagnoses of AMD that the patients said they had been
given, and measurements of harmful changes in the retina. The research is published in the journal
British Journal of Ophthalmology and used data on 116,000 people in the UK Biobank database aged
40-69 with no eye problems at the start of the study. The health of the retina was examined by scans
for more than 50,000 people.
The researchers found that people exposed to an additional 1 microgram per cubic metre of tiny
particles had an 8% higher risk of AMD.
Full story is at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/26/air-pollution-linked-to-higher-risk-of-irreversible-sight-loss