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Abstract #24960 Published in IGR 11-4
Prevalence of alcohol consumption and risk of ocular diseases in a general population: the Beijing Eye Study
Xu L; You QS; Jonas JBOphthalmology 2009; 116: 1872-1879
OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between alcohol consumption and ocular diseases in the adult population of mainland China. DESIGN: Population-based study. PARTICIPANTS: The Beijing Eye Study, performed in 2001, included 4439 subjects (age 40+ years) of 5324 individuals invited to participate (response rate 83.4%). The study was conducted in both a rural region (1973 subjects) and an urban region of Greater Beijing (2466 subjects). METHODS: All participants underwent an interview, including questions about alcohol consumption and a detailed ophthalmic examination, including photography of the cornea, lens, and fundus. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Consumption of alcohol and systemic and ophthalmic parameters. RESULTS: Information on alcohol consumption was obtained on 4141 subjects (93.3%), of whom 549 (13.3%) reported they consumed 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 smoking (P<0.001). Alcohol consumption was not a significant risk factor for the prevalences of age-related macular degeneration (P = 0.24), open-angle glaucoma (P = 0.51), angle-closure glaucoma (P = 0.75), diabetic retinopathy (P = 0.35), retinal vein occlusion (P = 0.39), pterygium (P = 0.08), trachoma (P = 0.053), epiretinal membrane (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), or nuclear cataract (P = 0.76), or 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), or 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, self-reported moderate consumption of alcohol does not have a significant effect on the prevalence of major ocular diseases or the physiologic parameters of intraocular pressure and refractive error.
Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. xlbio@yahoo.cn
