More sun when young, less myopia when old – Jan 2017

Association Between Myopia, Ultraviolet B Radiation Exposure, Serum Vitamin D

Concentrations, and Genetic Polymorphisms in Vitamin D Metabolic Pathways in a Multicountry European Study.
JAMA Ophthalmol. 2017 Jan 1;135(1):47-53. doi: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2016.4752

VitaminDWiki Summary

Myopia 50 years after sun exposure as a youth
1 Standard deviation (SD) more sun

Risk reduction
Age 14-19 +1 SD sun 20 %
Age 20-39 +1 SD sun 30 %
Age 65 High Lutein in blood 40 %


See also VitaminDWiki


Williams KM1, Bentham GC2, Young IS3, McGinty A3, McKay GJ3, Hogg R4, Hammond CJ5, Chakravarthy U4, Rahu M6, Seland J7, Soubrane G8, Tomazzoli L9, Topouzis F10, Fletcher AE11.

  • 1Department of Ophthalmology, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
  • 2Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • 2School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, East Anglia, United Kingdom.
  • 3Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom.
  • 4Centre for Experimental Medicine, Institute of Clinical Science, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom.
  • 5Department of Ophthalmology, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • 6Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, National Institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia.
  • 7Eye Department, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
  • 8Department of Ophthalmology, Hôtel-Dieu de Paris, Paris Descartes University, Paris, France.
  • 9Ophthalmology Clinic, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
  • 10Department of Ophthalmology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine, Thessaloniki, Greece.
  • 11Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.


IMPORTANCE:
Myopia is becoming increasingly common globally and is associated with potentially sight-threatening complications. Spending time outdoors is protective, but the mechanism underlying this association is poorly understood.

OBJECTIVE:
To examine the association of myopia with ultraviolet B radiation (UVB; directly associated with time outdoors and sunlight exposure), serum vitamin D concentrations, and vitamin D pathway genetic variants, adjusting for years in education.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS:
A cross-sectional, population-based random sample of participants 65 years and older was chosen from 6 study centers from the European Eye Study between November 6, 2000, to November 15, 2002. Of 4187 participants, 4166 attended an eye examination including refraction, gave a blood sample, and were interviewed by trained fieldworkers using a structured questionnaire. Myopia was defined as a mean spherical equivalent of -0.75 diopters or less. Exclusion criteria included aphakia, pseudophakia, late age-related macular degeneration, and vision impairment due to cataract, resulting in 371 participants with myopia and 2797 without.

EXPOSURES:
Exposure to UVB estimated by combining meteorological and questionnaire data at different ages, single-nucleotide polymorphisms in vitamin D metabolic pathway genes, serum vitamin D3 concentrations, and years of education.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES:
Odds ratios (ORs) of UVB, serum vitamin D3 concentrations, vitamin D single-nucleotide polymorphisms, and myopia estimated from logistic regression.

RESULT:
Of the included 3168 participants, the mean (SD) age was 72.4 (5) years, and 1456 (46.0%) were male.
An SD increase in UVB exposure at age

  • 14 to 19 years (OR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.71-0.92) and
  • 20 to 39 years (OR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.62-0.93)

was associated with a reduced adjusted OR of myopia; those in the highest tertile of years of education had twice the OR of myopia (OR, 2.08; 95% CI, 1.41-3.06). No independent associations between myopia and serum vitamin D3 concentrations nor variants in genes associated with vitamin D metabolism were found.
An unexpected finding was that the highest quintile of plasma lutein concentrations was associated with a reduced OR of myopia (OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.46-0.72).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE:
Increased UVB exposure was associated with reduced myopia, particularly in adolescence and young adulthood. The association was not altered by adjusting for education. We found no convincing evidence for a direct role of vitamin D in myopia risk. The relationship between high plasma lutein concentrations and a lower risk of myopia requires replication.

 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki

1690 visitors, last modified 30 Jun, 2021,
Printer Friendly Follow this page for updates