Metabolic syndrome and some of its components in relation to risk of cataract extraction. A prospective cohort study of men

Abstract

Purpose To evaluate the relationship between metabolic syndrome and some of its components with the incidence of cataract extraction. Methods A population‐based prospective cohort with a total of 45 049 men, aged 45–79 years, from the Cohort of Swedish Men completed in 1997 a self‐administered questionnaire concerning anthropometric measurements and lifestyle factors. The men were followed from 1 January 1998 through 31 December 2012, and the cohort was matched with registers of cataract extraction. The main outcome measure was incident cases of age‐related cataract extraction. Results Over the 15‐years of follow‐up, 7573 incident cases of cataract extraction were identified. After controlling for potential confounders, the association between single components of metabolic syndrome, abdominal adiposity, diabetes and hypertension and risk of cataract extraction was rate ratio ( RR ): 1.04; 95% confidence interval ( CI ): 0.99–1.10, RR : 1.77; 95% CI : 1.64–1.92 and RR : 1.06; 95% CI 1.00–1.13, respectively. The risk of cataract extraction increased with increasing numbers of metabolic syndrome components (p < 0.0001). Men aged 65 years or younger at baseline with all three components of the metabolic syndrome had a relative risk of 2.43 (95% CI : 1.95–3.01) for cataract extraction. Conclusion In this cohort of middle‐aged and elderly men, metabolic syndrome with the combination of abdominal adiposity, diabetes and hypertension was associated with an increased risk for cataract extraction, especially among men aged 65 years or younger. These findings put emphasis on the importance of weight control and healthy lifestyle behaviours in order to prevent cataract.

Metabolic and lifestyle factors in relation to senile cataract: a Mendelian randomization study

“…In a Swedish cohort of 35,369 women followed up for a mean of 8.2 years, the metabolic syndrome and its components, abdominal adiposity, diabetes, and hypertension were associated with an increased risk for cataract extraction 5 . These associations were subsequently replicated in another cohort study of 45,049 Swedish men 6 . Meta-analyses based on observational studies also found that an elevated BMI 33 , type 2 diabetes 34 and hypertension 35 appeared to increase the risk of senile cataract.…”

Association between obesity and age-related cataract: an updated systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies

“…After excluding duplicate papers, we screened the remaining articles ( n = 3,027) and disqualified any research that failed to fulfill the inclusion requirements ( n = 2,997) ( Supplementary Figure 1 ). After full-text reviews, nine articles were excluded because of being conducted on patients who underwent kidney transplantation or those with chronic diseases ( n = 2) ( 38 , 39 ), having a case–control or cross-sectional design ( 40 – 42 ), assessing waist circumference, weight or weight changes rather than BMI ( 28 , 43 , 44 ), and reporting incomplete data ( 45 ). Also, we excluded the study of Yuan et al because they genetically predicted BMI ( 46 ).…”

Increased risk of cataract surgery in patients with allergic disease: a population based cohort study

“…First, allergic diseases and cataracts share similar risk factors. Allergic diseases are related to individual components of metabolic risk, such as elevated blood pressure, blood glucose, and high cholesterol levels 18,19 , which may partly explain the increased incidence of cataract formation 20,21 . Other factors, including inflammation, clinical severity of AD, oxidative stress, and corticosteroid use, may contribute to cataract formation.…”