Abstract
Purpose :
Obesity and visual impairment are public health challenges worldwide. The relationship between obesity and age-related eye diseases including cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) have remained elusive. This report summarizes evidence from prospective studies evaluating the associations between obesity and age-related eye diseases.
Methods :
We conducted a systematic review of three electronic databases for longitudinal population-based studies on adults which described associations between measures of obesity including body mass index (BMI), waist-circumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and age-related eye diseases. Study quality was assessed using an adapted Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. We compared results between Western, non-Western and specifically Asian populations.
Results :
Our search yielded 1731 articles, of which 14, 10, 16 and 8 articles met our eligibility criteria for cataract, glaucoma, AMD and DR, respectively. Obesity was assessed by BMI (n=46), WC (n=8) and WHR (n=7). BMI-defined obesity was positively associated with incident cataract, incident any AMD and incident DR in Western populations, but in Asian populations associations for incident any AMD were not significant and associations for incident DR were inverse. WC-defined obesity was associated with incident glaucoma in non-Western populations. WHR-defined obesity but not BMI-defined obesity was associated with the incidence or progression of AMD in two Western studies.
Conclusions :
Overall, we found strong evidence supporting associations between obesity and age-related eye diseases, although the results vary depending on the population studied and measure of obesity used. Further research on obesity, weight loss and physical activity as risk factors for age-related eye diseases is warranted to support clinical and public health recommendations.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.