The German AugUR study: a population‐based prospective study to investigate chronic diseases in the elderly with focus on age‐related macular degeneration (AMD)

Purpose Population‐based epidemiological data on eye diseases are important determinants to steer health care. However, these data on prevalence, incidence, and risk factors are scarce in Central Europe and particularly in Germany. We therefore sought to establish such data for Bavaria, here focusing on age‐related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods The AugUR study (Age‐related diseases: understanding genetic and non‐genetic influences – a study at the University of Regensburg) is a population‐based prospective study in the mobile general population of Caucasian ethnicity aged 70 years and older in and around Regensburg, Bavaria. The study protocol includes ophthalmological anamnesis and examinations with testing of central retinal function (visual acuity, photostress test, Amsler Grid) as well as retinal imaging (standardized color fundus photographs of the central retina, confocal laser scanning ophthalmoscopy and spectral domain optical coherence tomography). The presence and extend of AMD is categorized via color fundus photographs into early and late stages. Results Since 2013, AugUR has recruited 1,133 participants, with 1,041 (92%) having gradable fundus images for at least one eye. A total of 418 (37% of the 1,041) individuals showed drusen and pigmentary abnormalities corresponding to early AMD findings, 69 (6%) participants demonstrated late‐stage AMD with neovascular or atrophic lesions. Importantly, we detected 83 (8%) persons with ‘latent’ AMD, i.e. being anamnestically unknown to the participant; 29 (3%) of those individuals revealed late AMD stages. Conclusions AugUR provides the first AMD prevalence estimates in an elderly German population. With an ongoing 3‐year‐follow‐up, this data will help to better understand disease development and progression.