Smoking linked to Age-Related Blindness

Smokers are four times more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration, according to Australian researchers.

The study followed 2,454 who were at least 49 years old at the beginning of the study, for ten years. The study showed that that smokers were four times more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration than those who had never smoked, and they developed it an average of five years earlier.

Previous smokers were three times more likely to have an advanced form of the disease than never-smokers.

Smoking is considered the most preventable cause of Macular Degeneration.