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Dissecting the complex sex-based associations of myopia with height and weight

Eye volume 38, pages 1485–1495 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objectives

To assess height and weight as possible sex-specific risk factors for bilateral myopia among young adults.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study including 101,438 pre-enlisted young adult males and females, aged 17.4 ± 0.6 and 17.3 ± 0.5 years, respectively, and born during 1971–1994. Categories of BMI (body mass index) were defined according to sex-related percentiles for 17-year-olds following U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts, and subjects were divided into five height and weight categories according to sex-adjusted percentiles. Data included best-corrected visual acuity, diverse socio-demographic variables, anthropometric indices, and refractive errors, namely bilateral myopes and emmetropes.

Results

The prevalence of bilateral myopia in males and females was 19.1% and 26.0%, respectively. Bilateral myopia displayed a J-shaped associated with BMI, achieving statistical significance only among males (p < 0.0001). Weight displayed a U-shaped association with bilateral myopia among both young males (p < 0.0001) and females (p < 0.005). A higher prevalence of bilateral myopia was observed only among males of the lower height category (p < 0.0001), even when controlling for BMI (from normal to obesity). In a multivariable regression model, obesity was associated with higher prevalence of bilateral myopia (OR: 1.21; 95% CI: 1.07-1.38, p = 0.002), only among males. There were no interactions of BMI with height or weight. Bilateral myopia was also associated with prehypertension among males (OR: 1.10, 95% CI: 1.04-1.15, p < 0.001).

Conclusions

A higher risk for bilateral myopia was associated with either BMI solely or height and weight, as well as pre-hypertension, in males. The possible association with low height requires further research.

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Data availability

The current data set that supports the findings of this study is subject to military restrictions, according to guidance of the IDF Helsinki committee that approved the research, and therefore its availability is limited. Reasonable data requests or queries may be addressed to the corresponding author. Restrictions may apply to the availability and/or use of these data, following permission and instructions from the authorized military entity.

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Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Yossy Machluf, Asaf Israeli.

  2. These authors jointly supervised this work: Yoram Chaiter, Eedy Mezer.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Israel Defense Forces, Medical Corps, Tel Hashomer, Israel

    Yossy Machluf, Eduardo Cohen & Yoram Chaiter

  2. Unit of Agrigenomics, Shamir Research Institute, Haifa University, Kazerin, Israel

    Yossy Machluf

  3. The Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Asaf Israeli & Eedy Mezer

  4. Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Asaf Israeli

  5. The Israeli Center for Emerging Technologies in Hospitals and Hospital-based Health Technology Assessment, Shamir (Assaf Harofeh) Medical Center, Be’er Ya’akov, Israel

    Yoram Chaiter

  6. Department of Ophthalmology, Ruth Rappaport Children’s Hospital, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel

    Eedy Mezer

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  1. Yossy Machluf
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Contributions

YM: conceptualization; planning and designing; data acquisition; data analysis; interpreting results; preparing figures and tables; drafting and writing; critical appraisal; AI: interpreting results; drafting and writing; critical appraisal; EC: interpreting results; critical appraisal; YC: conceptualization; planning and designing; data acquisition; interpreting results; drafting and writing; critical appraisal; supervision; EM: conceptualization; planning and designing; interpreting results; drafting and writing; critical appraisal; supervision.

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Correspondence to Yossy Machluf.

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Machluf, Y., Israeli, A., Cohen, E. et al. Dissecting the complex sex-based associations of myopia with height and weight. Eye 38, 1485–1495 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-024-02931-7

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