Awareness of Age-related Macular Degeneration and Its Risk Factors among Beijing Residents in China

BACKGROUND Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of irreversible blindness, and awareness of this disease is important in the prevention of blindness. However, lack of public awareness of AMD was shown in previous studies, and there was no report of AMD awareness in the Mainland of China. Therefore, the aim of our study was to assess the awareness of AMD and its risk factors among Beijing residents in China. METHODS A cross-sectional, computer-assisted, telephone investigation was conducted to measure the awareness of AMD among Beijing residents. All the contacts of potential respondents were randomly generated by computer. Only those above 18 years of age and willing to participate in the study were included. The questionnaire for the study was modified from the AMD Alliance International Global Report. Pearson's Chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis were used to identify the factors that affected the knowledge of AMD. RESULTS Among 385 Beijing residents who agreed to participate, the awareness of AMD was 6.8%, far below than that of cataract and glaucoma. Participants who were above 30 years of age (odds ratio [OR] 6.17, confidence interval [CI] 1.44-26.57), with experience of health-related work (OR 8.11, CI 3.25-20.27), and whose relatives/friends or themselves suffering from AMD (OR 32.18, CI 11.29-91.68) had better AMD awareness. Among those familiar with AMD, only 35% of them identified smoking as a risk factor, and only 23.1% of the residents believed that smoking could lead to blindness. CONCLUSIONS The sample of Chinese population had limited knowledge of AMD. Educational programs need to be carried out to raise public awareness of AMD.