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. 2026 Oct 1;13:1969759. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2026.1969759

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© 2026 Zhang, Xu and Pakdaman.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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Forest plots comparing the highest versus lowest exposure quartiles for PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 in relation to cataract-related outcomes. Each analysis includes estimates from Chua et al. (2021) and Shin et al. (2020), with squares and horizontal lines representing study-specific hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals and diamonds representing pooled random-effects estimates. The pooled HRs are 1.029 for PM2.5, 1.041 for PM10, and 1.094 for NO2. Heterogeneity is high for PM2.5, moderate for PM10, and minimal for NO2. — Random-effects meta-analyses comparing the highest versus lowest quartiles of ambient air-pollutant exposure and cataract outcomes. PM₂.₅: HR for Q4 vs. Q1, PM₁₀: HR for Q4 vs. Q1, NO₂: HR for Q4 vs. Q1. An HR >1 indicates a higher rate of the cataract-related outcome with greater pollutant exposure, whereas an HR <1 indicates a lower rate.