Human cataract risk factors: significance of abstention from, and high consumption of, ethanol (U-curve) and non-significance of smoking.
Phillips CI., Clayton RM., Cuthbert J., Qian W., Donnelly CA., Prescott RJ.
Current ethanol consumption and cigarette smoking were quantified by questionnaire in Edinburgh and suburbs, Scotland, UK. Stringently matched cataract-control pairs (n = 990 and 858, respectively) were included. For ethanol, 'light and infrequent' consumption and 'light and frequent' were associated with a significantly lower risk of cataract than were total abstention and 'occasional' consumption; the prevalence of cataract rose with further increases in consumption, suggesting a U-shaped curve. For nuclear cataract, white in particular, there is a significant trend with amount consumed. Smoking was not found to be a risk factor.