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Vitamin D deficiency: A risk factor for myopia in children - a cross sectional study in a tertiary care centre
Sahira Aaraj1, Ayisha Kausar2, Sabeen Abid Khan3
1Department of Pediatrics, Shifa College of Medicne, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Insights
Low vitamin D levels were not significantly associated with myopia in children. However, myopia was linked to older age, greater height, weight, and body mass index in this pediatric study.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Pediatrics
- Endocrinology
Background:
- Myopia is a growing global health concern, particularly in children.
- Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent and has been investigated for various health impacts.
- The relationship between vitamin D levels and pediatric myopia requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential role of vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for myopia in children aged 5-15 years.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional observational study was conducted with 72 children aged 5-15 years.
- Ocular assessments included visual acuity, refraction (spherical equivalent), and axial length.
- Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were measured; myopia was defined as spherical equivalent ≤0.25 diopters.
Main Results:
- Myopia was present in 55.6% of the participants.
- No significant association was found between vitamin D deficiency and myopia (p=0.115).
- Myopia showed significant associations with older age (p=0.005), higher height (p=0.001), weight (p=0.001), and BMI (p=0.008).
Conclusions:
- Vitamin D deficiency was not significantly associated with myopia in this pediatric cohort.
- Older age and increased anthropometric measures (height, weight, BMI) were significantly associated with myopia.
- Further research may explore other etiological factors for myopia in children.
Objective:
To study the role of vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for myopia in children aged 5-15 years.
Methods:
The cross-sectional observational study was conducted from January to September 2019 at the Ophthalmology and Paediatric departments of Shifa Foundation Community Health Centre, Islamabad, Pakista. It comprised patients with suspected / symptomatic vitamin D deficiency who were enrolled from the paediatric outpatient department and referred to the ophthalmology clinics for eye exam. Apart from taking detailed ocular history, slit lamp examination, Snellen's distance visual acuity, auto-refraction to calculate spherical equivalent, and amplitude scan for measuring the axial length were performed. An average of 3 measurements was taken for both refraction and axial length calculation. Myopia was labelled if mean spherical equivalent was ≤0.25 dioptres. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level < 20ng/ml. Data was analysed using SPSS 23.
Results:
There were 72 subjects with a mean age of 10.11±2.69 years; 37(51.4%) boys and 35(48.6%) girls. Myopia was seen in 40(55.6%) patients, while 32(44.4%) were emmetropic. The overall mean vitamin D level was 20.25±12.18 ng/ml. There was no significant association between myopia and vitamin D deficiency (p=0.115). Significant associations were found between myopia and relatively older age (p=0.005), higher height (p=0.001), more weight (p=0.001) and higher body mass index value (p=0.008).
Conclusion:
Low vitamin D levels were not significantly associated with myopia in children aged 5-15 years, but significant associations were found between myopia and relatively older age, and various anthropometric measures.
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