The invention relates to allelic variants and haplotypes of the Complement Factor H (CFH) gene, the Complement Component 3 (C3) gene, and the Complement Factor D (CFD) gene, associated with either an elevated or a reduced risk that an individual will develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD), methods of diagnosing such risk in an individual based on the presence or absence of such variants, and methods and reagents for diagnosis and treatment of AMD.