Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2025
Binocular Dynamic Visual Acuity in Eyeglass-Corrected Myopic Patients
Published on: March 29, 2022
Myopia in late adolescence and subsequent multiple sclerosis among men
Ayako Hiyoshi1, Christopher H Hawkes2, James E Neffendorf3
1Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Campus USÖ, Södra Grev Rosengatan 30, Örebro 703 62, Sweden; Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm SE-106 91, Sweden; Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London WC1E 7HB, United Kingdom.
Background:
Risk factors such as low vitamin D level has been implicated in the etiology of multiple sclerosis (MS) and may be relevant to myopia, such that there may be an association between myopia and MS.
Methods:
Using linked Swedish national register data, we conducted a cohort study of men who were born in Sweden between 1950 and 1992, lived in Sweden between 1990 and 2018, and enrolled in military conscription assessment (n = 1,847,754). Myopia was defined based on the spherical equivalent refraction measured at conscription assessment, around age 18 years. Multiple sclerosis was identified using the Patient Register. Cox regression produced hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), with adjustment for demographic and childhood socioeconomic characteristics and residential region. Due to changes in the assessment of refractive error, the analysis was stratified into two groups by the year of conscription assessment: 1969-1997 and 1997-2010.
Results:
Among 1,559,859 individuals during a maximum of 48 years of follow-up from age 20 to 68 years (44,715,603 person-years), there were 3,134 MS events, and the incidence rate 7.0 (95% CI [6.8, 7.3] per 100,000 person-years). Among individuals with conscription assessments during 1997-2010, there were 380 MS events. There was no evidence of an association between myopia and MS, with HR 1.09 (95% CI 0.83, 1.43). Among individuals who underwent conscription assessment in 1969-1997, there were 2754 MS events. After adjusting for all covariates, there was no evidence of an association between myopia and MS (HR 0.99 [95% CI 0.91, 1.09]).
Conclusion:
Myopia in late adolescence is not associated with a subsequent raised risk of MS and thus there does not appear to be important shared risk factors.
Insights
This study found no association between myopia (nearsightedness) in late adolescence and the subsequent risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS). These findings suggest that shared risk factors for myopia and MS are unlikely to be significant.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Neurology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Low vitamin D levels are a potential risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS).
- Myopia (nearsightedness) may share risk factors with MS, prompting investigation into their association.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential association between myopia in late adolescence and the subsequent risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS).
Main Methods:
- A Swedish cohort study utilized national registry data of 1,847,754 men born between 1950 and 1992.
- Myopia was assessed at military conscription around age 18; MS was identified via the Patient Register.
- Cox regression analysis stratified by conscription assessment period (1969-1997 and 1997-2010) was performed.
Main Results:
- No significant association was found between myopia and the risk of MS in either assessment period.
- Hazard ratios for MS were 1.09 (95% CI 0.83, 1.43) for 1997-2010 and 0.99 (95% CI 0.91, 1.09) for 1969-1997, after adjustments.
Conclusions:
- Myopia diagnosed in late adolescence does not appear to increase the risk of developing multiple sclerosis later in life.
- The findings do not support the existence of significant shared risk factors between myopia and MS.
Related Concept Videos
01:22Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways
01:16Focusing of Light in the Eye
01:25Glaucoma: Overview