AIM: To determine the association between cigarettes smoking, body mass index(BMI)and the risk of age-related cataract(ARC)in middle-aged and elderly men in northeast China.

METHODS: A hospital-based case control study was conducted. Cases(n=362)were men who had surgically treated ARC, 45-85 years old; controls frequency-matched(n=362)were men who had been admitted to the same hospital as cases for many different diseases not related with eye diseases. Cases and controls were matched with 1:1. The cases and controls were interviewed during their hospital stay, using a structured interviewer-administrated questionnaire that included information on sociodemographic characteristics, socioeconomic, lifestyle habits(tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption, etc.), anthropometric measures, personal medical history, and family history of ARC in first-degree relatives, and simultaneously body mass index(BMI)was calculated. The odds ratios(OR)and 95% confidence intervals(CI)of ARC were estimated using multiple logistic regression models.

RESULTS: After adjusting for age and multiple potential confounders, higher BMI was associated with an increased risk of ARC. Cigarette smoking, years smoked or moderate cigarette smoking(1-29 cigarettes/day)had no relation with the risk of ARC(P>0.05), although patients smoked ≥30 cigarettes per day had an elevated risk of ARC as compared with the non-smokers(OR=1.55, 95% CI; 1.16-2.85, P=0.026). Higher BMI was associated with an increased risk of ARC. Both overweight and obesity was associated with an obviously increased risk for surgically ARC(OR =1.55, 95% CI: 1.02-1.98, P=0.015 and OR=1.71, 95% CI: 1.32-2.39, P=0.013 respectively)compared to normal BMI. Then participants were grouped into quartiles of BMI(Q1 to Q4), compared to controls in the lowest quartile, the OR for cases in the highest quartile of BMI was 1.54(OR=1.54, 95% CI: 1.08-2.46, P=0.022). The results of univariate analysis showed cigarette smoking was not associated with ARC formation for men with lower or normal BMI(P >0.05).Compared to the non-smokers, for men of overweight or obesity, cigarette smoking was associated with a significantly increased risk for surgically ARC(OR=2.00, 95% CI: 1.49-6.65, P=0.003 and OR=1.66, 95% CI: 1.63-13.21, P=0.002 respectively). Similarly, smokers in the highest quartile of BMI had approximately 1.5 times the risk of ARC as non-smokers in the lowest quartile(OR=1.46, 95% CI: 1.06-5.29, P <0.001). Followed multivariate models revealed that the association had never changed.

CONCLUSION: Current cigarette smoking was positively related to ARC only among those who smoked 30 or more cigarettes/day. For men who were both overweight and obesity, cigarette smoking was associated with a significantly increased risk for ARC.