Major dietary patterns in relation to age-related cataract

Dietary pattern (DP) may play an important role in the formation of Age-related cataract (ARC). The objective of the study was to investigate the association between DP and ARC.

Participants (120 cases and 240 controls) aged 50-80 years were selected from the ophthalmology clinic of Urmia Imam Khomeini Educational Hospital in the Northwest of Iran by the simple random sampling method between 2017 and 2018. Participants in matched case-control study were free of diabetes, autoimmune diseases and cancer. Factor analysis method was used to identify the major DPs. The association between participants' DPs and ARC were evaluated using logistic regression analysis in SPSS20.

Four major DPs were found and nominated: "Unhealthy", "Healthy", "Salty foods" and "Mixed" patterns. In continues model the Unhealthy pattern was positively associated with the risk of ARC disease (odds ratio in adjusted model was 5.71; 95% CI: 3.68-8.87, P _trend< 0.001). The Healthy pattern was inversely associated with the ARC (odds ratio in adjusted model was 0.48; 95% CI: 0.34-0.67, P_trend = 0.02). The Salty foods pattern was associated with ARC (odds ratio in adjusted model was 1.45; 95% CI; 1.04-2.02, P_trend = 0.03). The association between ARC disease and Mixed patterns was not statistically significant.

The results indicate that Unhealthy and Salty foods patterns were associated with increased risk of ARC. Further prospective studies are needed to confirm such an association.