Advanced maternal reproductive age elevates myopia risk in offspring.

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Genetics
• Public Health

Background:

• Myopia and high myopia are significant global health concerns.
• Parental factors, including reproductive age, may influence offspring's risk of developing myopia.
• Understanding these associations can inform preventative strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between parental reproductive age and the risk of myopia and high myopia in adult offspring.
• To explore the potential modifying effect of outdoor activity on this association.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study of 14,044 UK Biobank participants.
• Myopia defined as spherical equivalent ≤-0.5 D; high myopia as ≤-6.0 D.
• Logistic regression adjusted for multiple covariates, including parental age categories and outdoor time.

Main Results:

• Offspring risk of myopia and high myopia increased with parental reproductive age.
• Advanced maternal age (≥35 years) significantly elevated myopia (OR, 1.42) and high myopia (OR, 1.56) risk.
• Increased daily outdoor activity (>2 hours) attenuated the detrimental effect of maternal age on myopia progression.

Conclusions:

• Advanced maternal reproductive age is a risk factor for myopia and high myopia in offspring.
• Daily outdoor activity can mitigate the increased myopia risk associated with maternal age.
• These findings underscore the importance of environmental factors in myopia development.