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Alcohol consumption and risk of cataract extraction: a prospective cohort study of women.

Lindblad BE, Håkansson N, Philipson B, Wolk A

Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. birgitta.ejdervik.lindblad@swipnet.se

PURPOSE: To investigate the association between alcohol consumption and the risk of cataract extraction. DESIGN: Population-based prospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 34,713 women participating in the Swedish Mammography Cohort, age 49 to 83 years, completed in 1997 a self-administered questionnaire about alcohol, smoking, and other lifestyle factors. METHODS: The women were followed from September 1997 through September 2004. The cohort was matched with registers of cataract extraction from the study area. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Incident surgical extraction of age-related cataract. RESULTS: During 84 months of follow-up, we found 3587 incident cases of age-related cataract extraction. Compared with never drinkers, the relative risk of cataract extraction among current drinkers was 1.11 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02-1.21) after adjustment for age and other potential risk factors. In multivariate analysis, an increment of 13 g alcohol intake per day (corresponding to 1 drink = 330 ml of beer, 150 ml of wine, or 45 ml of liquor) was associated with a 7% increased risk of cataract extraction (relative risk, 1.07; 95% CI 1.02-1.12). Mean age at cataract extraction among nonsmoking women who used alcohol was 75 years, compared with 77.6 years among never drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: These prospective data suggest that daily use of >/=1 alcoholic drinks was associated with a modest increase of risk for cataract extraction. The risk increased with increasing alcohol consumption.

Published 2 April 2007 in Ophthalmology, 114(4): 680-5.
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