Association between cataract and cotinine-verified smoking status in 11 435 Korean adults using Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 2008 to 2016.

PURPOSE

To investigate the association between cataract and cotinine-verified smoking status.

SETTING

Samsung Changwon Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, South Korea.

DESIGN

Retrospective study.

METHODS

Participants were randomly selected using data collected by the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2008 to 2016. Participants completed a questionnaire to self-report smoking status and a history of cataract, among other variables. To identify the relationship between cataract and smoking, a new variable was used to define smoking status, survey-cotinine-verified smoking status (SCS)-the combination of self-reported smoking status and cotinine-verified smoking status- and thus identify hidden smokers.

RESULTS

In total, 11 435 participants were eligible for final analysis. The study comprised 4925 men and 6510 women; the mean age was 52.86 ± 16.83 years (median: 54 years). Of 2292 SCS smokers, 382 (16.7%) were nonsmokers according to their self-report. Notably, the ratio of the cotinine-verified to self-reported smoking rate of women was greater than that of men, 1.60 and 1.06, respectively. This indicated that female hidden smokers may affect the results of studies based on self-reported questionnaires. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that smoking was correlated with cataract (odds ratio [OR], 1.37 [95% CI, 1.07-1.76]; OR, 1.35 [CI, 1.12-1.64]; and OR, 1.36 [CI, 1.10-1.69]) for self-reported, cotinine-verified, and SCS, respectively. No statistically significant sex difference was found.

CONCLUSION

Smoking was associated with cataract, but it did not vary by sex. Female hidden smoking must be considered when investigating the association between smoking and cataract based on self-reported questionnaires.