Association of cataract and sun exposure in geographically diverse populations of India: the case study. first report of the ICMR-EYE SEE study group

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of cataract and its association with sun exposure and other environmental risk factors in three different geographically diverse populations of India.

Design: Population based cross sectional study during 2010-2016

Participants: People aged > 40 years residing in randomly sampled villages were enumerated (12021) and 9735 (81%) underwent ophthalmic evaluation from plains, hilly and coastal regions (3595, 3231, 2909 respectively)

Methods: A detailed questionnaire-based interview about outdoor activity in present, past and remote past, usage of sun protective measures, exposure to smoke, and detailed ophthalmic examination including assessment of uncorrected and best corrected visual acuity, measurement of intraocular pressure, slit lamp examination, lens opacities categorization using LOCS III and posterior segment evaluation was done. Lifetime effective sun exposure was calculated using Melbourne formula and expressed as quantiles. These w...