title: Postmenopausal hormone use and lens opacities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Women are at higher risk for age-related cataract than men, and it has been hypothesized that this difference is due in part to gender-related hormonal differences.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated the association between postmenopausal hormone use and lens opacities in a population of 480 postmenopausal women from the Nurses' Health Study for whom we had prospectively collected exposure data. Participants received standardized eye exams; the Lens Opacity Classification System III (LOCS III) was used to measure the degree of opacification.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 342 women had some opacity in one or both eyes. Overall, we did not observe a significant association between current hormone use and presence of any type of opacity (compared to never users, multivariate relative risk: 0.85; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.54-1.34). In ordinal logistic regression compared to never users, current hormone users had multivariate relative risks of cortical opacities of 0.80 (95% CI: 0.54-1.19) and for past users the relative risk was 0.76 (95% CI: 0.48-1.22). For nuclear opacities, the comparable relative risk for current use of hormones was 0.77 (95% CI: 0.52-1.13), and for past use the relative risk was 1.48 (95% CI: 0.92-2.34). Current use of estrogen-only preparations was associated with a 49% decreased risk of nuclear opacities compared to never use (multivariate relative risk 0.51, 95% CI: 0.29-0.89).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While the overall findings are null, they do not exclude the possibility of a protective effect, particularly among current estrogen users.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA. june_weintraub@dph.sf.ca.us
authors.forename: June M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Weintraub
authors.forename: Allen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jacques
authors.forename: Walter C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Willett
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rosner
authors.forename: Graham A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Colditz
authors.forename: Leo T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Chylack
authors.forename: Susan E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Hankinson
mesh_terms: D002386:Cataract / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology