Relation between Types of Age Related Macular Degeneration and Lipid Profile in a Sample of Egyptian Patients

Purpose: To determine whether serum cholesterol level, serum HDL and LDL levels are higher in patients with wet type of age related macular degeneration (ARMD) compared to dry type in a sample of Egyptian patients. To determine whether Cholesterol risk factor is linked more to one type than the other.Methods: Consecutive non-diabetic cases with ARMD presented to the same physician were included. Patients were divided into two groups, group 1 with Dry AMD, Group 2 with wet AMD. Total Cholesterol (TC) level, Cholesterol ratio, Triglyceride (TAG) level, low density lipoprotein (LDL-C), and high density lipoprotein cholesterols (HDL-C) fasting levels were analyzed and compared.Results: There was no statistical difference between TC, TAG, LDL-C levels, and cholesterol factor between the two groups. Whereas HDL-C level was shown to be statistically higher in group 2.Conclusion: High HDL-C level could be a factor enhancing the development of wet type of ARMD in patients with already impaired Bruch’s membrane function rather than developing the dry type. Younger patients with high cholesterol and HDL levels have tendency to develop early advanced wet ARMD. Further investigations needed to determine whether controlling blood serum lipids level will result into slower progress of the disease and better response to treatment or not.