Photo Credit: Afishman64

The following is a summary of “Association between weight-adjusted waist index and myopia in adolescents and young adults: results from NHANES 1999–2008,” published in the January 2024 issue of Ophthalmology by Shi et al.

Existing evidence has suggested a potential association between obesity and myopia, though findings have been inconsistent.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study investigating the relationship between a novel obesity metric, myopia, and weight-adjusted waist index (WWI).

They conducted a cross-sectional study on individuals aged 12 to 25, undergoing noncycloplegic vision exams during National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2008. Waist circumference, when divided by the square root of body weight, was assessed as WWI. Myopia, defined as spherical equivalent (SE) ≤ − 0.5 diopters (D), was categorized as mild (-3.00D < SE≤-0.50 D), moderate (-6.00D < SE ≤-3.00 D), or high (SE≤-6.00 D). WWI’s correlation with myopia was examined using weighted logistic regression and a generalized additive model, considering threshold effects and interaction tests.

The result showed 11,180 individuals revealed a correlation between higher weight-adjusted WWI and reduced myopia severity, indicated by an elevated SE (β = 0.098, 95% CI: 0.028–0.167). The top WWI tertile showed a 19.8% decrease in myopia risk compared to the lowest group (OR = 0.802, 95% CI: 0.800-0.804; P for trend < 0.001), the same was observed for high myopia. Gender-specific nonlinear links were observed, with breakpoints for males and females (10.774 and 10.025, respectively). Among males, a notable positive association was on the right side of the breakpoint (OR = 1.398, 95% CI: 1.038–1.884), while among females, a negative association was on the left side (OR = 0.679, 95% CI: 0.512–0.899).

They concluded that a higher waist-to-height ratio was surprisingly linked to lower myopia risk, with gender differences.

Source: bmcophthalmol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12886-024-03282-3