Associations between Serum Vitamin D and Genetic Variants in Vitamin D Pathways and Age-Related Macular Degeneration in the European Eye Study

Purpose To study associations between early and late age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and neovascular AMD (nvAMD) with serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) and genetic variants in vitamin D pathway genes. Design Population-based, cross-sectional study in a random sample aged 65 years or older from 7 European countries. Participants Of 4753 participants, 4496 (2028 men and 2468 women), with a mean age of 73 years, provided a blood sample; 2137 had no signs of AMD, 2209 had early AMD, and 150 had late AMD, of whom 104 had nvAMD. Methods Participants were interviewed to determine smoking and alcohol use, sunlight exposure, and diet; underwent fundus photography. Fundus images were graded using the International Classification System for Age-Related Maculopathy. The 25(OH)D was measured by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry and categorized as deficient ( Main Outcome Measures Adjusted odds ratio (OR) for 3 outcomes (early AMD, late AMD, nvAMD). Results No linear association was found with 25(OH)D and early or late AMD or nvAMD. There was no association between insufficient or deficient status with early or late AMD. Deficient status was associated with nvAMD (adjusted OR, 1.27; 95% confidence interval, 1.1–1.45; P P GC , VDR , CYP2R1 , and CYP27B1 . Two SNPs ( VDR ) were associated with early AMD, 4 SNPs ( RXRA ) and 1 SNP ( VDR ) were associated with nvAMD, and 1 SNP ( RXRA ), 2 SNPs ( VDR ), and 1 SNP ( CYP2R1 ) were associated with late AMD. After Bonferroni correction, no SNPs were associated with early AMD, late AMD, or nvAMD. Conclusions Deficiency in 25(OH)D was associated with nvAMD, but the adjusted OR was small, and we cannot exclude residual confounding. The hypothesis of a causal association of vitamin D with AMD is not supported by clear evidence for an association of vitamin D SNPs with early AMD, late AMD, or nvAMD.