Ultraviolet Radiation and Formation of Cataracts

To the Editor: Taylor et al. (Dec. 1 issue)¹ report a relation between the prevalence of cortical cataracts and exposure to ultraviolet B and no correlation between nuclear cataracts and ultraviolet exposure. In the cataract-grading system described in Methods, each type of cataract (i.e., cortical and nuclear) is graded on a scale of 0 to 4. For nuclear cataracts, each grade is related to the expected effect on visual acuity; for cortical cataracts, each grade is related to the proportion of the total circumference of the lens occupied by the combined cortical opacities, as if they were adjacent.² No correlation…