Plasma ascorbic acid levels in patients with subtypes of cataract

• Author Details:   
• Jaskiran Kaur
• Anju Sharma
• Mandeep Kaur
• Neha ^*
• Amandeep Kaur

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Objective: Cataract is a vision impairing disease characterized by gradual, progressive thickening of the lens. It is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world today. Dietary antioxidant vitamins, in particular vitamin C can play a role in preventing the onset or progression of age related cataract. The aim of this study was to determine the plasma ascorbic acid levels in normal individuals and in patients suffering from various subtypes of cataract.
Method: The study was carried out on 100 subjects of either sex with the age ranging from 40-70 years. Out of these 50 were Cataract patients attending the Out-patient department (OPD) and wards of Ophthalmology Department, Ram Lal Eye Hospital, Amritsar. Fifty adult patients of either sex suffering from cataract were selected for study. Assessment of activity of disease was done on the basis of clinical signs and symptoms and slit lamp examination. The patients suffering from diabetes mellitus, malignancies, tuberculosis, hypertension, coronary artery disease or the patients taking antioxidant drugs were excluded from the study. It was case-control prospective study. The patients and the controls were screened for plasma ascorbic acid.
Results: The mean plasma ascorbic acid level in the test group was were 0.60–0.8/mg/dl with mean±S.D of 0.68±0.09 and in control group was from 2.72–0.98 mg/dl with mean±SD of 0.85±0.09 mg/dl. The difference between the levels of control and patients was statistically highly significant with level of plasma ascorbic acid lower in cataract patients as compared to controls. Aging had a reverse relation with plasma ascorbic acid level.
Conclusion: This study revealed that plasma ascorbic acid level in cataract patients was lower than normal individuals. Since vitamin C can be made easily available to the elderly population and its beneficial effects popularized through educational and social instructions on the nutritional status of the food we eat, we can make the right decision to prevent or delay the initiation of cataract in developing countries like India.