تعيين مقدار شاخصهاي سرمي سديم ، پتاسيم و كلسيم توسط جذب اتمي در بيماران مبتلا به كاتاراكت پيري

Relationship between serum Na+, Ca++ and K+ levels, Nutritional Status and senile Cataract formation

The Growing evidence suggests an association between age related cataract with nutritional status and indicates the involvement of minerals in preventing cataract progression, however, this ils less studied in Iranian population. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate Na-h, K+ and Ca++status in patients with senile cataract in the North-West of Iran. A population based case-control study was conducted on 102 patients with cataract attending the ophthalmology clinic of Tabriz university of Medical sciences and 102 healthy volunteers both over 50 years old. A food frequency and a general questionnaire were used to collect the information on the consumption of a wide variety of food items and demographic data. Capillary blood was drown to determine the serum levels of micronutrients using the atomic absorption method and the data were analyzed using food processor II software. Mean serum Na+ level in the patients was found to be significantly (P<0.05) lower than the control groups (44.0 ±2.13vs. 49.7 ± 2.5 ng/dl). No significant differences were observed in Ca++ and K+ levels in both patient and control groups. The nutritional assessment showed that patient. Patients with cataract have consumed significant less dairy products, vegetables, fruit and meats (P<0.05). Furthermore, the mean body mass index in the patient group was significantly less than control (23.2± 0.3 vs. 26.0 ± 0.4). As cataract formation is associated with sodium pump activity, The difference of Na+ concentration observed in this study may have some contribution in the cataract development. These findings also indicate a need for health promotion activities for increasing consumption of vegetables and fruits.