Abstract
Purpose: :
To examine the associations between alcohol consumption and ocular diseases in the adult population of mainland China.
Methods: :
The Beijing Eye Study was a population based eye study, performed in 2001, included 4439 subjects (age 40+ years) out of 5324 subjects invited to participate (response rate 83.4%). It was held in a rural region (1973 subjects) and an urban region of Greater Beijing (2466 subjects). The participants underwent an interview including questions for alcohol consumption and a detailed ophthalmic examination including photography of the cornea, lens and fundus.
Results: :
Information on alcohol consumption was obtained for 4141 (93.3%) subjects, out of whom 549 (13.3%) subjects reported to consume beer or wine. In multivariate analysis, alcohol consumption was significantly associated with the systemic parameters of lower age (P=0.001), male gender (P<0.001), rural region (P<0.001), lower level of education (P=0.01), and smokers/nonsmokers (P<0.001). Alcohol consumption was not significantly associated with the prevalences of age-related macular degeneration (P=0.24), open-angle glaucoma (P=0.51), angle-closure glaucoma (P=075), diabetic retinopathy (P=0.35), retinal vein occlusions (P=0.39), pterygia (P=0.08), trachoma (P=0.053), epiretinal membranes (P=0.09), non-glaucomatous optic nerve atrophy (P=0.55), dry eye (P=0.86), cortical cataract (P=0.67), subcapsular posterior cataract (P=0.62), and nuclear cataract (P=0.76) nor with the ocular parameters of refractive error (P=0.99), intraocular pressure (P=0.19), retinal artery diameters (temporal inferior: P=0.60), retinal vein diameters (temporal inferior: P=0.41), and size of alpha zone and beta zone of parapapillary atrophy (P=0.68).
Conclusions: :
When adjusted for the systemic parameters of age, gender, rural / urban region, level of education and smoking, a moderate consumption of alcohol as reported by the subjects may not have a major effect on the prevalence of the major ocular diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, open-angle glaucoma and angle-closure glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusions, epiretinal membranes, trachoma, pterygium and dry eye, nor on the physiologic parameters of intraocular pressure and refractive error.
Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • cataract • intraocular pressure