Findings from Landmark Study1
Three of the nine graphs in Figure 1 of the landmark study have been selected and slightly modified for this brief discussion. In the graph on the left, the patient has zero high risk CFH alleles but 2 ARMS2 high risk alleles. The lowest rate of progression here corresponds to a zinc only regimen as depicted in green. The highest rate of progression is found in those taking only antioxidants. Hence, patients ¡n this group should take zinc but no antioxidants. In the graph on the right, the patient has 2 high risk CFH alleles but no ARMS2 high risk alleles. Such a patient with this genetic profile does worst with zinc alone as depicted in green and does best with antioxidants (shown in red) alone.1
The data above is from 995 patients in the original AREDS 1 study who had intermediate drusen and were followed for 12 years.