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Aim: To estimate the prevalence of age-related maculopathy (ARM) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the Spanish population aged >=65 years.

Methods: Individuals were selected by random stratified sampling of census data from eight Spanish health districts encompassing a wide geographic area. Participants underwent an ophthalmologic evaluation including fundus imaging, and ARM and AMD were defined according to the International ARM Epidemiological Study Group classification. The age- and gender-adjusted prevalences and CIs for ARM and neovascular and atrophic forms of AMD were calculated.

Results: Of the 3028 individuals invited to participate, 2132 attended the ophthalmologic evaluation (840 men (70.9% response) and 1292 women (69.7% response); 978 aged 65-74 years (77.6% response), 1154 aged >=75 years (65.3% response)). The overall prevalence of ARM and AMD was 10.3% (95% CI 8.7% to 11.8%) and 3.4% (95% CI 2.5% to 4.3%), respectively. AMD increased from 1.3% in individuals aged 65-74 years to 8.5% in those aged >=80 years. Neovascular and atrophic AMD accounted for 1.9% and 1.5% of individuals, respectively.

Conclusions: The prevalence of AMD in this large, population-based Spanish sample was similar to that observed in other large-scale population-based studies. However, the prevalence of ARM was lower than found in similar studies.

(C) 2011 BMJ Publishing Ltd