Association of alcohol intake with incidence and progression of diabetic retinopathy

A study examined the longitudinal association of baseline alcohol intake and frequency with the 6-year incidence and progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in a population-based cohort of Singaporean Indians. The study results are published in the journal Ophthamology.
656 individuals with diabetes mellitus, gradable retinal photographs from baseline (2007-2009) and follow-up (2013-2015) examinations, information on alcohol intake and other relevant data from the Singapore Indian Eye Study were eligible for inclusion in the study.
At follow-up, 16% of participants developed diabetic retinopathy, and 30.8% had diabetic retinopathy progression. 12.7% and 19.1% participants consumed alcohol in incident DR and progression categories, respectively.
In multivariable analyses, those who consumed alcohol had nearly two-thirds reduced odds of incident DR (OR (95% CI): 0.36 (0.13 to 0.98)) compared with those who did not. Participants with infrequent consumption of alcohol also had a reduction in odds of incident DR (0.17 (0.04 to 0.69)), compared with non-drinkers. No association was found between alcohol consumption and DR progression.
In this longitudinal population of Singapore Indians, baseline alcohol intake, particularly infrequent consumption, was associated with lower risk of developing DR, compared with non-drinkers, in line with previous cross-sectional findings.
Source: Moss SE, Klein R, Klein BE. The association of alcohol consumption with the incidence and progression of diabetic retinopathy. Ophthalmology. 1994;101(12):1962-1968.