Retinal Deposits and Cardiovascular Disease
July 2022
Robert Thompson and his colleagues at Mt. Sinai in NYC published their study evaluating the presence of subretinal drusenoid deposits (also known as reticular pseudo-drusen) and soft drusen, their two pathways to advanced AMD, associated genetic risk alleles, and underlying cardiovascular disease. These authors demonstrated that subretinal drusenoid deposits are associated with cardiovascular disease, stroke, lower HDL, and ARMS2 risk allele (well known to be associated with AMD). In addition, those with soft drusen were associated with higher HDL, CFH risk allele (also known to be associated with AMD), and two lipid risk genes. The data suggests that soft drusen and subretinal drusenoid deposits found in the retina, may well be markers for distinct disease.