Alcohol use and lens opacities in the Beaver Dam Eye Study
L. L. Ritter, B. E. Klein, R. Klein and J. A. Mares-Perlman
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison 53792-3220.
The relationship between alcohol use and lens opacities was examined in a
large (N = 4926) population-based study of adults aged 43 to 86 years in
Beaver Dam, Wis. These data were collected from 1988 to 1990. Alcohol
history was determined by a standardized questionnaire. Prevalence and
severity of cataract were determined by masked grading of photographs
obtained using a slit-lamp camera and retroillumination. A history of heavy
drinking was related to more severe nuclear sclerotic, cortical, and
posterior subcapsular opacities (odds ratios, 1.34, 1.38, and 1.57,
respectively). These relationships remained after adjusting for other risk
factors such as smoking. Moderate liquor consumption was associated with
less severe nuclear sclerosis (odds ratio, 0.81). Participants who drank
wine had less severe nuclear sclerosis (odds ratio, 0.84) and cortical
opacities (odds ratio, 0.84) than those who did not. Increased consumption
of beer was related to increased risk of cortical opacities.
