The Prevalence of Age-Related Maculopathy in Iceland

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Abstract
REYKJAVIK IS located on the southwest coast of Iceland in the North Atlantic ocean. Its latitude is 64°, with a longitude 21°51° and altitude 18 m above sea level. The average temperature is 5°C; average humidity is 82%; rainfall amounts to 805 mm per year; and solar radiation equals 203 cal/cm2. The Icelandic population is almost exclusively white, predominantly descendants of settlers who arrived from Scandinavia and the British Isles 1100 years ago. A previous epidemiological study of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in Iceland indicated that this condition was responsible for more than half of all legal blindness in Iceland, and in those older than 70 years, geographic atrophy was 3 times more common than exudative disease.1 The International ARM Epidemiological Study Group suggested that the term age-related maculopathy (ARM) be used for various characteristics of drusen and pigmentary changes. They reserved the term age-related macular degeneration for late stages only, which is characterized by geographic atrophy and exudative disease.2 In this article, we follow these guidelines. Age-related macular disease is the major cause of severe visual impairment in elderly persons in industrialized countries.1,3-5