'Quit smoking to cut risk of impaired vision'

In a large study of Swedish men, further evidence has emerged of the smoking link to cataract development in the eye, with addiction to 15 cigarettes a day raising the risk of needing a cataract operation by 42%, compared with people who have never smoked.

Introducing their study, the authors point out that smoking was already an established risk factor for cataracts, "which is the leading cause of visual impairment in the world, responsible for more than 50% of world blindness."

The authors did not know, however, what benefit against this higher risk of cataracts would be derived from giving up smoking.

A total of 44,371 men were studied, in the Cohort of Swedish Men, all aged between 45 and 79 years. They had completed a self-administered questionnaire on smoking habits and lifestyle factors in 1997.