title: A dose-response effect between a sunlight index and age-related cataracts. Italian-American Cataract Study Group.
abstract: To explore the existence of a dose-response relationship between sunlight exposure and risk of age-related cataracts, we analyzed data collected from 1008 patients with cataracts and 469 control subjects enrolled in the Italian-American Case-Control Study of Age-Related Cataracts. Fourteen variables related to sunlight exposure history were included in the questionnaire administered to the study participants. A sunlight index was constructed and its relationship to the presence of cataracts was modeled by logistic regression. After adjustments for potential confounding variables and for age and sex, a significant dose-response effect (P = 0.01) was detected between the sunlight exposure index and the presence of pure cortical cataracts. With the exception of corticonuclear cataracts, all the other mixed types of opacity also showed a dose-response association with the sunlight index. These data support the hypothesis that sunlight exposure is a risk factor in the development of cortical cataracts, and demonstrate the existence of a dose-response relationship in this association.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rosmini
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Stazi
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Milton
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Sperduto
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pasquini
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Maraini
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002386:Cataract / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013472:Sunlight / Q000009:adverse effects*