HRT increases cataract risk – add alcohol and it gets worse?
Apparently, naturally secreted estrogen appears to protect the eye from cataract, but estrogen from outside sources in the form of hormone replacement therapy does not.
Study data showed that women who had ever used hormone replacement therapy had a 14% higher risk of cataract than women who had never used therapy. Current users had an 18% higher risk of cataract than women who never used hormone replacement therapy.
Results showed that among women who consumed alcohol, current hormone replacement therapy users had a 29% higher risk of cataract extraction than those who did not use therapy. Current users who consumed more than one alcoholic beverage daily had a 42% higher risk of cataract.
Current hormone replacement therapy users who smoked had a 29% higher risk of cataract than women who neither used therapy nor smoked. Current users who never smoked had a 26% higher risk of cataract than women who neither used therapy nor smoked.
Women who currently used hormone replacement therapy and alcohol and were smokers were at a 38% higher risk of cataract.
Further information about the study can be read at ScienceDaily.
