SERUM BETA-CAROTENE, ALPHA-TOCOPHEROL, AND AGE-RELATED MACULOPATHY - THE BLUE MOUNTAINS EYE STUDY

PURPOSE: To assess associations between serum beta carotene, alpha toc opherol, and age-related maculopathy. METHODS: We studied 156 subjects with age-related maculopathy marched for age, sex, and month of blood collection to 156 control subjects without age-related maculopathy. S ubjects were identified from the Blue Mountains Eye Study: those with late age-related macular degeneration and early age-related maculopath y using examination and grading of retinal photographs, and control su bjects without age-related maculopathy randomly sampled from the study population. RESULT: Neither serum alpha tocopherol nor beta carotene was significantly associated with age-related maculopathy. CONCLUSION: These findings provide no evidence of a protective association betwee n serum alpha tocopherol or beta carotene and age-related maculopathy.