Tobacco Control and Smoking

Factsheets - Smoking Causes Blindness

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Fact Sheet 1: Smoking causes blindness

Smoking causes blindness cigarette packet graphic warning picture.

Many smokers are unaware of the link between tobacco smoking and blindness. The most common form of blindness caused by smoking is age-related macular degeneration.¹

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a disease affecting the macula, which is the central part of the retina at the back of the eye that provides vision for daily tasks such as driving, reading and recognising faces. The disease causes irreversible loss of central vision.² It is usually related to ageing and most commonly affects people over 50 years of age.

Age-related macular degeneration is a progressive condition and there is currently no cure.^3,4The most important known preventable risk factor for developing age-related macular degeneration is tobacco consumption.^2,5

Current smokers have four times the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration than past smokers or non-smokers.^5,6 Smokers may also develop the disease about 10 years earlier than non-smokers.^1,7

The number of years you smoke and the number of cigarettes smoked increases the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration.^1,8,9

Estimates are there could be as many as 70,000 New Zealanders who may have age-related macular degeneration.¹⁰ It is estimated that smoking causes or contributes to around 20 percent of new blindness in people over 50 years old.⁶

In many cases, eliminating smoking may prevent age-related macular degeneration.2 If you quit smoking, your risk of developing age-related macular degeneration decreases the longer you stay off cigarettes. Twenty years after quitting, your risk is the same as someone who has never smoked.^1,9,11

There is also some evidence of increased risk for age-related macular degeneration in non-smokers exposed to passive smoking.⁸

Smoking also increases your risk of developing other eye problems such as cataracts. A cataract is the clouding of the eye’s naturally clear lens.² As a result, the amount of light that can pass through is reduced and the image cannot be properly focused on the retina in the eye.^2,12 Cataracts are another leading cause of blindness and smokers are two to three times more likely to develop cataracts than non-smokers.¹³

The number of years you smoke and the number of cigarettes smoked increases the risk of developing a cataract.^12,14,15 Want to quit smoking? The most important thing is to make a quit attempt. For help, talk to your doctor, pharmacist, quit smoking provider or call the Quitline on 0800 778 778 or visit The Quit Group web site at www.quit.org.nz

Sources:
1 Kelly SP, Thornton J, Lyratzopoulos G, Edwards R, Mitchell P. 2004. Smoking and Blindness. BMJ, Mar 2004; 328: 537-538 [editorial] http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7439/537 (accessed 11/2/08)
2 Commonwealth of Australia, 2005. Eye Health in Australia. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/A28F8BA0E8E666ACCA2570D8000AF5D4/$File/ehbackground.pdf (accessed 11/02/08)
3 Macular Degeneration Foundation. 2008. Fact sheet – what is macular degeneration? http://www.mdfoundation.com.au/whatismd.aspx (accessed 11/02/08)
4 Gottlieb JL. 2002. Age-related macular degeneration. JAMA 2002; 288: 2233-2236. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/288/18/2233 (accessed 11/02/08)
5 Smith W, Assink J, Klein R, Mitchell P, Klaver CC, Klein BE, Hofman A, Jensen S, Wang JJ, de Jong PT. 2001. Risk factors for age-related macular degeneration: pooled findings from three continents. Ophthalmology. 2001 Apr; 108(4):697-704. [abstract] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11297486&itool=iconabstr&query_hl=2&itool=pubmed_DocSum (accessed 11/02/08)
6 Mitchell P, Chapman S, Smith W. 1999. Smoking is a major cause of blindness. MJA 1999; 171: 173-174. http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/171_4_160899/mitchell/mitchell.html (accessed 11/02/08)
7 Centre for Vision Research. 2008. Macular degeneration fact sheet. http://www.cvr.org.au/armd.htm (accessed 11/02/08)
8 Khan JC, Thurlby DA, Shahid H, Clayton DG, Yates JRW, Bradley M, Moore AT, Bird AC for the Genetics Factors in AMD Study. 2006. Smoking and age related macular degeneration: the number of pack years of cigarette smoking is a major determinant of risk for both geographic atrophy and choroidal neovascularisation. Br. J. Ophthalmol., Jan 2006; 90: 75-80. http://bjo.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/90/1/75 (accessed 11/02/08)
9 Delcourt C, Diaz JL, Ponton-Sanchez A, Papoz L. 1998. Smoking and age-related macular degeneration. The POLA study. Arch Ophthalmol. 1998; 116: 1031-1035. [abstract] http://archopht.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/116/8/1031 (accessed 11/02/08)
10 Macular Degeneration Foundation. 2008. Fact sheet – what is macular degeneration? http://www.mdfoundation.com.au/whatismd.aspx (accessed 11/02/08)
11 Vingerling JR, Hofman A, Grobbee DE, de Jong PT. 1996. Age-related macular degeneration and smoking. The Rotterdam study. Arch Ophthalmol. 1996; 114: 1193-1196. [abstract] http://archopht.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/114/10/1193 (accesed 11/02/08)
12 American Council on Science and Health. 2003. Cigarettes: What the warning label doesn’t tell you. Second edition. New York, American Council on Science and Health, 2003. http://www.acsh.org/publications/pubID.206/pub_detail.asp (accessed 11/02/08)
13 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2004. The Health Consequences of Smoking: what it means to you. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/sgr_2004/00_pdfs/SGR2004_Whatitmeanstoyou.pdf (accessed 11/02/08)
14 US Department of Health and Human Services. 2004. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr_2004/index.htm (accessed 11/02/08)
15 West S, Munoz B, Schein OD, Vitale S, Maguire M, Taylor HR, Bressler NM. 1995. Cigarette smoking and risk for progression of nuclear opacities. Arch Ophthalmol. 1995; 113(11):1377-80. [abstract] http://archopht.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/113/11/1377 (accessed 11/02/08)

Page last updated: 27 March 2008