Metabolic Syndrome Components in Relation to Risk of Cataract Extraction: A Prospective Cohort Study of Women

Is cataract associated with cardiovascular morbidity?

“…31 The mechanism relating HTN to cataract is unclear, but the association of HTN with elevated CRP levels might also indicate an underlying inflammatory process. 15 Potential limitations of our study must also be considered. Although detailed information on a multitude of potential confounders was collected and adjusted for, the authors cannot rule out the possibility that unmeasured confounders may explain the observed association.…”

“…A recent prospective cohort study of Swedish women has also shown that metabolic syndrome and its components (abdominal adiposity, diabetes, and HTN) is associated with the risk of cataract development. 15 Another prospective study of male physicians with self-reported cataract reported a relative risk of 1.34 (CI ¼ 0.78, 2.32) for fatal cardiovascular events during 5 years of follow-up. 16 As the above studies have shown the association of cataract and CVDs separately in males and females, this study shows comparable results for men and women (Table 3).…”

“…15 As we used cataract surgery as a surrogate for cataract, it is possible that the more severely ill cardiovascular patients would not have undergone elective cataract surgery in spite of having cataract. This would act to diminish the association between cataract and CVDs.…”

Long-Term Physical Activity and Risk of Age-Related Cataract

“…22 Physical activity also is associated with improved insulin resistance 3 and decreased risk of diabetes and hypertension, 5 which are risk factors for cataract. 1,23 Moreover, physical inactivity has been associated with increased production of reactive oxygen species, endothelial dysfunction, and atherosclerosis in mice 6 and with increased skeletal muscle protein oxidation and lipid peroxidation in humans. 24 Our observation of an inverse association of long-term total physical activity levels and the lack of association of exercise with the risk of cataract suggests that being physically active on a regular daily basis, in contrast to short weekly episodes of exercising or training, may contribute to protection against cataract development.…”

Metabolic Syndrome Components and Age-Related Cataract: The Singapore Malay Eye Study

“…Our finding of a positive association between metabolic syndrome, or two of its components, diabetes and high BP, with cataract is consistent with previous studies conducted in Western populations. [21][22][23] Diabetes and hyperglycemia are established risk factors for cataract, as documented in several populations. 2,3,5,21,22 Diabetes has been shown to be associated with cataract in several Asian populations.…”