The presence of some degree of age-related macular degeneration in elderly patients in the United States is quite common. Somewhere between 10 and 15 million elderly Americans have some form of age-related macular degeneration. Seven million Americans are believed to be at high risk of developing wet macular degeneration from their dry form due to the presence of large drusen.
Large drusen are a known risk factor for progression to the wet form of macular degeneration. Advanced age-related macular degeneration affects 1.75 million Americans. Advanced age-related macular degeneration includes wet macular degeneration and geographic atrophy, the dry form of macular degeneration that can result in significant visual loss. The majority of patients with advanced macular degeneration have wet disease.
It is estimated that 200,000 patients develop new wet macular degeneration annually. With numbers such as these, it is obvious why so much time, effort, and financial resources are devoted to research of age-related macular degeneration. The U.S. aging population is growing, and it is estimated that the number of patients with advanced macular degeneration will increase to nearly 3 million Americans by the year 2020.