This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Age-related cataracts associated with obesity, analysis shows
A six-study meta-analysis found that a healthy diet and physical fitness may be beneficial in reducing the risk for age-related cataracts.
Pan and colleagues reviewed literature from PubMed and Embase and recorded data on body mass index and age-related cataract including nuclear, cortical and posterior subcapsular (PSC) cataract to evaluate the association between weight and cataracts.
As they reported in Optometry and Vision Science, the six studies included 163,013 participants 40 to 84 years old.
Results showed that obesity was associated with an increasing risk of nuclear, cortical and PSC cataract. They also demonstrated that being overweight was strictly associated with an increasing risk of PSC cataract.
"This systematic review and meta-analysis of six prospective cohort studies confirmed a longitudinal effect of obesity on age-related cataract, especially PSC cataract," the authors concluded. "The results of the meta-analysis suggest that lifestyle changes including healthy diet or more physical activities would help to reduce the incidence and associated costs of cataract, subsequently improving visual functioning and health-related quality of life.
"Randomized control trials are warranted to examine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of weight reduction in obese populations to decrease the risk of age-related cataract," they added.
A previous Optometry and Vision Science study that investigated the role of weight in Korean populations found that overweight individuals had a significantly lower risk of cataract formation.
Collapse