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By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
If you feel like you are too old to give up smoking in 2010, you might want to reconsider your resolutions.
A U.S. research team verified that smoking could continuously increase one's risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in Americans over 65, and even those over 80.
The Science Daily cited a UCLA research team's report for the American Journal of Ophthalmology that women who smoked had 11 percent higher rates of AMD than other women the same age.
In women over 80, however, those who smoked were 5.5 times more likely to develop AMD than non-smoking women of their age.
The findings were made through monitoring a group of 1,958 women who underwent retinal photographs at five-year intervals, starting with a baseline exam at age 78, where 4 percent, or 75 of the women, smoked.
AMD causes progressive damage to the macula, the center of the retina that allows us to see fine details.
When the macula degenerates, people experience darkness or blurring in their central vision, preventing them from being able to read, drive and recognize faces.
In the U.S., the report said, smoking is the second most common risk factor for AMD after age. Cigarette smoking has been hypothesized to increase AMD risk by reducing serum antioxidant levels, altering blood flow to the eyes and decreasing retinal pigments, it reported.
"The take-home message is that it's never too late to quit smoking," said lead author Dr. Anne Coleman, professor of ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA.
"We found that even older people's eyes will benefit from kicking the habit," she was quoted as saying.
The prevalence of seniors smoking in Korea has long become a social issue, too. According to the Korean Association of Smoking and Health, more than 51.8 percent of males have smoked in the past while a considerable number of them are still smokers. About 9.1 percent of women over 70 years old are smokers too.
The group has proclaimed 2010 as a "non-smoking year," aiming at encouraging 55 percent of smokers who "vow to quit puffing but fail" every New Year's Day.
"Apart from the medical reasons, there are many other reasons to quit cigarettes," the group said in a press release on New Year's resolutions.
"You can use the money for other things, live a cleaner life, have better smelling breath and it can bring happiness to the family."
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr |
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