Areas of malignant tissue in a thyroid gland. Credit: John Campbell

Authors of a South Korean study found age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and certain cancers may share risk factors and pathogenic pathways.

Dr Junhee Park, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, and study co-authors analysed the data of over 4 million patients on the Korean National Health Insurance Service database. Of these, 51,596 had AMD, 3,683 of whom were visually disabled. Researchers found AMD was associated with a higher risk of hypervascular cancers such as thyroid cancer (10% increased risk) and of renal cancer (16% increased risk), while the risk of stomach cancer was lower in the AMD group than in the non-AMD group.