TY - JOUR
T1 - Time spent outdoors in childhood is associated with reduced risk of myopia as an adult
AU - Lingham, Gareth
AU - Yazar, Seyhan
AU - Lucas, Robyn M.
AU - Milne, Elizabeth
AU - Hewitt, Alex W.
AU - Hammond, Christopher J.
AU - MacGregor, Stuart
AU - Rose, Kathryn A.
AU - Chen, Fred K.
AU - He, Mingguang
AU - Guggenheim, Jeremy A.
AU - Clarke, Michael W.
AU - Saw, Seang Mei
AU - Williams, Cathy
AU - Coroneo, Minas T.
AU - Straker, Leon
AU - Mackey, David A.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Myopia (near-sightedness) is an important public health issue. Spending more time outdoors can prevent myopia but the long-term association between this exposure and myopia has not been well characterised. We investigated the relationship between time spent outdoors in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood and risk of myopia in young adulthood. The Kidskin Young Adult Myopia Study (KYAMS) was a follow-up of the Kidskin Study, a sun exposure-intervention study of 1776 children aged 6–12 years. Myopia status was assessed in 303 (17.6%) KYAMS participants (aged 25–30 years) and several subjective and objective measures of time spent outdoors were collected in childhood (8–12 years) and adulthood. Index measures of total, childhood and recent time spent outdoors were developed using confirmatory factor analysis. Logistic regression was used to assess the association between a 0.1-unit change in the time outdoor indices and risk of myopia after adjusting for sex, education, outdoor occupation, parental myopia, parental education, ancestry and Kidskin Study intervention group. Spending more time outdoors during childhood was associated with reduced risk of myopia in young adulthood (multivariable odds ratio [OR] 0.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.69, 0.98). Spending more time outdoors in later adolescence and young adulthood was associated with reduced risk of late-onset myopia (≥ 15 years of age, multivariable OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.64, 0.98). Spending more time outdoors in both childhood and adolescence was associated with less myopia in young adulthood.
AB - Myopia (near-sightedness) is an important public health issue. Spending more time outdoors can prevent myopia but the long-term association between this exposure and myopia has not been well characterised. We investigated the relationship between time spent outdoors in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood and risk of myopia in young adulthood. The Kidskin Young Adult Myopia Study (KYAMS) was a follow-up of the Kidskin Study, a sun exposure-intervention study of 1776 children aged 6–12 years. Myopia status was assessed in 303 (17.6%) KYAMS participants (aged 25–30 years) and several subjective and objective measures of time spent outdoors were collected in childhood (8–12 years) and adulthood. Index measures of total, childhood and recent time spent outdoors were developed using confirmatory factor analysis. Logistic regression was used to assess the association between a 0.1-unit change in the time outdoor indices and risk of myopia after adjusting for sex, education, outdoor occupation, parental myopia, parental education, ancestry and Kidskin Study intervention group. Spending more time outdoors during childhood was associated with reduced risk of myopia in young adulthood (multivariable odds ratio [OR] 0.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.69, 0.98). Spending more time outdoors in later adolescence and young adulthood was associated with reduced risk of late-onset myopia (≥ 15 years of age, multivariable OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.64, 0.98). Spending more time outdoors in both childhood and adolescence was associated with less myopia in young adulthood.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102719697&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-021-85825-y
DO - 10.1038/s41598-021-85825-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 33737652
AN - SCOPUS:85102719697
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 11
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
IS - 1
M1 - 6337
ER -