ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), like Alzheimer’s disease and atherosclerosis, is a late-onset degenerative disease. Environmental factors, such as cigarette smoking and nutrition, are associated with AMD (1,2). Heritability also explains much of the risk of developing AMD (3,4). The multifactorial nature of AMD has made the search for absolute genetic contributions challenging. However, advances in understanding the pathology of AMD has helped advance the study of genetic associations, providing evidence that there are strong genetic contributions to this disease.
