Aims To evaluate the prevalence of and factors associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a rural population of southwestern Japan.

Methods This population-based cross-sectional study of all residents aged 40 years or older was conducted on the island of Kumejima, Okinawa, Japan. Of 4632 eligible residents, 3762 completed a comprehensive questionnaire and underwent ocular examination (participant rate, 81.2%). A non-mydriatic fundus photograph was used to grade AMD lesions according to the Wisconsin protocol. Prevalence of AMD was calculated and factors associated with AMD were identified by logistic regression.

Results Of 3068 subjects with gradable photographs, 469 had early AMD and 4 had late AMD. Age-adjusted prevalence was 13.4% for any AMD, 13.3% for early AMD and 0.09% for late AMD. In multivariate analysis, any AMD was positively associated with age (OR 1.04 per year, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.05), male sex (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.75) and history of cataract surgery (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.82) and was negatively associated with longer axial length (OR 0.85 per millimetre, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.96). Early AMD similarly showed significant associations with these same factors.

Conclusions Prevalence of early or late AMD in a southwestern island population of Japan was 13.4% or 0.09%. Our data suggest relatively high prevalence for early AMD and low prevalence for late AMD in this sample of rural Japanese population. Significant factors associated with any or early AMD were mostly similar to that of previous studies.