## 3 Results
### DII and Cataracts: Mediating Effects of Metabolic Diseases  
After adjusting the DII to 1000 kcal, the mediating effect of DII on the relationship between cataract prevalence and metabolic diseases was analyzed by dividing it into three groups: LOW, MID, and HIGH, shown in (Figure 3). The model fit was evaluated using indices such as CMIN, GFI, and RMSEA. A model is considered to have an adequate fit if the GFI is above 0.90 and the RMSEA is below 0.08. The analysis results showed that all models had GFI values of 0.986 or higher and RMSEA values below 0.08, indicating that the research models demonstrated an overall acceptable \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l r r r r r} \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Variable**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Non-Cataract**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Cataract**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**\(p\)-Value**} \\ \hline Sex (n(\%)) & & & & \(<\)0.001 \\  & Men & 3167 & (42.8) [(1)] & 691 & (37.3) & \\  & Women & 4240 & (57.2) & 1162 & (62.7) & \\ Age (year) & & 57.0 & \(\pm\)10.8 [(2)] & 70.2 & \(\pm\)8.5 & \(<\)0.001 \\ BMI (kg/m\({}^{2}\)) & & 24.1 & \(\pm\)3.4 & 24.4 & \(\pm\)3.3 & 0.003 \\ Income & & & & \(<\)0.001 \\  & Lowest & 1249 & (16.9) & 762 & (41.1) & \\  & Lower middle & 1816 & (24.5) & 515 & (27.8) & \\  & Upper middle & 2035 & (27.5) & 325 & (17.5) & \\  & Highest & 2307 & (31.1) & 251 & (13.5) & \\ Education & & & & & \(<\)0.001 \\  & \(\leq\)Elementary & 1291 & (17.4) & 917 & (49.5) & \\  & Middle school & 850 & (11.5) & 297 & (16.0) & \\  & High school & 2554 & (34.5) & 392 & (21.2) & \\  & \(\geq\)University & 2712 & (36.6) & 247 & (13.3) & \\ Marital status & & & & & \(<\)0.001 \\  & Living together & 5933 & (80.1) & 1209 & (65.2) & \\  & Alone & 1474 & (19.9) & 644 & (34.8) & \\ Activity restriction & & & & & \(<\)0.001 \\  & Yes & 496 & (6.7) & 292 & (15.8) & \\  & No & 6911 & (93.3) & 1561 & (84.2) & \\ Drinking & & & & & \(<\)0.001 \\  & Non-drinking & 840 & (11.3) & 466 & (25.1) & \\ Less than once a month & 2906 & (39.2) & 780 & (42.1) & \\
1–4 times a month & 2131 & (28.8) & 340 & (18.3) & \\
2–3 times a week & 1058 & (14.3) & 156 & (8.4) & \\ More than 4 time a week & 472 & (6.4) & 111 & (6.0) & \\ Smoking & & & & \(<\)0.001 \\  & Non-smoking & 4489 & (60.6) & 1216 & (65.6) & \\  & Past & 1768 & (23.9) & 462 & (24.9) & \\  & Current & 1150 & (15.5) & 175 & (9.4) & \\ Hypertension & 1959 & (26.4) & 944 & (50.9) & \(<\)0.001 \\ Diabetes mellitus & 774 & (10.4) & 431 & (23.3) & \(<\)0.001 \\ Dyslipidemia & 1590 & (21.5) & 662 & (35.7) & \(<\)0.001 \\ Obesity & & 2688 & (36.3) & 731 & (39.4) & 0.012 \\ DII & & 0.9 & \(\pm\)2.3 & 1.5 & \(\pm\)2.8 & \(<\)0.001 \\ \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{(1)}\) N (\(\%\)), [(2)] Mean \(\pm\) SE. BMI, body mass index; DII, dietary inflammation index (ranges from –7.30–8.97).  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Demographic and clinical characteristics of study subjects according to cataract status. fit. Additionally, the NFI was 0.880, the IFI was 0.881, and the CFI was 0.885, which were close to the threshold of >0.9, making them acceptable. In the LOW DII group, hypertension \(\beta=-0.063\) (\(p<0.001\)), dyslipidemia \(\beta=-0.032\) (\(p=0.002\)), and obesity \(\beta=-0.024\) (\(p=0.023\)) had a negative effect on disease prevalence. In the MID DII group, there was no significant relationship with DII for any disease. In the HIGH DII group, hypertension \(\beta=0.077\) (\(p<0.001\)) and dyslipidemia \(\beta=0.033\) (\(p=0.001\)) had a positive effect on disease prevalence. When analyzing the direct effects of metabolic diseases on cataract development, diabetes mellitus \(\beta=0.132\) (\(p<0.05\)), hypertension \(\beta=0.187\) (\(p<0.05\)), dyslipidemia \(\beta=0.108\) (\(p<0.05\)), and obesity \(\beta=0.025\) (\(p<0.05\)) were found. Of these, hypertension had the strongest direct association with cataract development, followed by diabetes and dyslipidemia.