Simple blood test ‘could stop elderly going blind’

A SIMPLE blood test could save the sight of older people by detecting a common eye disease before symptoms even appear.

For the more than 600,000 people in Britain with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the first sign is often early sight loss.

By the time they notice dark spots in their vision or words which disappear from the page when reading, a lot of the damage has already been done.

However ophthalmologists say there is now a blood test for the disease – the leading cause of blindness in British people aged 50 and over. This could save people’s sight by allowing them to get vital injections earlier.

These injections slow down deteriorating eyesight in people with the ‘wet’ form of AMD by blocking the overgrowth of leaky blood vessels in the eye.

The blood test, developed by a team led by Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, is based on 87 fatty proteins which were linked to the eye disease in 90 patients.

Co-author Dr Joan Miller, chief of ophthalmology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a professor at Harvard Medical School, said: ‘Because the signs and symptoms of early stage AMD are very subtle, with visual symptoms only becoming apparent at more advanced stages of the disease, identification of biomarkers in human blood plasma may allow us to better understand the early to intermediate stages of AMD so we may intervene sooner, and ultimately provide better care.’

It is estimated one in ten pensioners in the UK have some degree of age-related macular degeneration.

By 2020, it is predicted almost 700,000 people, mainly women, will be in the late stages of the disease.