Parkinson’s drug, L-DOPA, could lead to the delay or prevention of age-related macular degeneration

Written by Louise White

Using a retrospective analysis comparing the incidence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) between patients taking and not taking L-DOPA, a multi-institutional team of scientists have discovered that exogenous L-DOPA may be a protective factor against this common cause of blindness. The study, which was supported by Research to Prevent Blindness, determined that in a cohort of 37,000 patients, in those that were not taking the drug L-DOPA, AMD onset occurred at 71.2, 71.3 and 71.3 years of age in three independent cohorts. In comparison, patients with an L-DOPA prescription developed AMD at a significantly later age of 79.4. The odds...

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