Myopia and BMI: a nationwide study of 1.3 million adolescents
Alon Peled
Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Department of Ophthalmology, Assaf-Harofeh Medical Center, Zerifin, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorItay Nitzan
Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps, Ramat Gan, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorJacob Megreli
Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps, Ramat Gan, Israel
Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community, Jerusalem, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorEstela Derazne
Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorDorit Tzur
Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps, Ramat Gan, Israel
Department of Military Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorOrit Pinhas-Hamiel
Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Pediatric Endocrine and Diabetes Unit, Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital, Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorArnon Afek
Central Management, Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Gilad Twig
Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps, Ramat Gan, Israel
Department of Military Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
Institute of Endocrinology, Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, Israel
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Sheba Medical Center Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, Israel
Correspondence
Gilad Twig, Academy and Research Division, Surgeon General Headquarters, Israel Defense Forces, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAlon Peled
Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Department of Ophthalmology, Assaf-Harofeh Medical Center, Zerifin, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorItay Nitzan
Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps, Ramat Gan, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorJacob Megreli
Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps, Ramat Gan, Israel
Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community, Jerusalem, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorEstela Derazne
Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorDorit Tzur
Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps, Ramat Gan, Israel
Department of Military Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorOrit Pinhas-Hamiel
Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Pediatric Endocrine and Diabetes Unit, Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital, Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorArnon Afek
Central Management, Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Gilad Twig
Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps, Ramat Gan, Israel
Department of Military Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
Institute of Endocrinology, Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, Israel
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Sheba Medical Center Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, Israel
Correspondence
Gilad Twig, Academy and Research Division, Surgeon General Headquarters, Israel Defense Forces, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Objective
This study analyzed the association between adolescent BMI and myopia severity.
Methods
This cross-sectional study comprised 1,359,153 adolescents who were medically examined before mandatory military service. Mild-to-moderate and high myopia were defined based on right-eye refractive data. BMI was categorized based on the US age- and sex-matched percentiles. Logistic regression models were applied separately for women and men to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for myopia per BMI category.
Results
A total of 318,712 adolescents had mild-to-moderate myopia and 23,569 had high myopia. Compared with low-normal BMI (reference group), adjusted ORs for mild-to-moderate and high myopia increased with increasing BMI status, reaching 1.39 (95% CI: 1.23-1.57) and 1.73 (95% CI: 1.19-2.51) for men with severe obesity, respectively, and 1.19 (95% CI: 1.12-1.27) and 1.38 (95% CI: 1.14-1.65) for women with mild obesity, respectively. ORs for mild-to-moderate and high myopia were also higher in men with underweight (OR = 1.20; 95% CI: 1.18-1.23 and OR = 1.39; 95% CI: 1.30-1.47) and women with underweight (OR = 1.06; 95% CI: 1.03-1.09 and OR = 1.12; 95% CI: 1.04-1.22). The overall size effect was greater for men than women (pinteraction < 0.001), in whom the group with severe obesity did not reach statistical significance.
Conclusions
BMI was associated with myopia in a J-shaped pattern, with the size effect being greater for adolescent men than women. This study indicates that both low BMI and high BMI are associated with mild-to-moderate and severe myopia.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The current data set is subject to military restrictions, and therefore its availability is limited. Data request or queries may be addressed to the corresponding author.
Supporting Information
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| oby23482-sup-0001-Supinfo.docxWord 2007 document , 33.4 KB | Appendix S1 Supporting Information |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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