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.