HUMAN CATARACT RISK-FACTORS - SIGNIFICANCE OF ABSTENTION FROM, AND HIGH CONSUMPTION OF, ETHANOL (U-CURVE) AND NON-SIGNIFICANCE OF SMOKING

Current ethanol consumption and cigarette smoking were quantified by q uestionnaire in Edinburgh and suburbs, Scotland, UK. Stringently match ed cataract-control pairs (n = 990 and 858, respectively) were include d. For ethanol, 'light and infrequent' consumption and 'light and freq uent' were associated with a significantly lower risk of cataract than were total abstention and 'occasional' consumption; the prevalence of cataract rose with further increases in consumption, suggesting a U-s haped curve. For nuclear cataract, white in particular, there is a sig nificant trend with amount consumed. Smoking was not found to be a ris k factor.