Correlation between serum melatonin and aMT6S level for age-related macular degeneration patients.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the levels of serum melatonin (MLT) and assay of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6S) of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients and study their correlation with AMD risk factors.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: 58 AMD cases were selected and 58 healthy cases of the same time period were selected according to 1:1 closest matching method. ELISA method was used to test serum MLT and aMT6S level.

RESULTS: Levels of MLT and aMT6S in AMD group were lower than those in the control group, and differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Based on analysis of AMD subgroup, differences on gender had no statistical significance compared with AMD type. For cases with smoking, cardiovascular disease and corrected visual acuity lower than 0.1, MLT and aMT6S levels were reduced at 0.05). Through the regression analysis, we concluded that smoking history, cardiovascular disease history, best corrected visual acuity, MLT and aMT6S level were independent risk factors, among which MLT [OR = 3.624 (odds ratio: OR)] and aMT6S (OR = 3.201).

CONCLUSIONS: MLT and aMT6S may be related to the incidence of AMD.