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Is physical activity protective against myopia?
- Source :
- British Journal of Ophthalmology. 104:1329-1330
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- BMJ, 2020.
-
Abstract
- As the myopia epidemic gathers pace, with 5 billion people expected to be myopic and 1 billion predicted to have sight-threatening high myopia by 2050, there is an urgent need to identify targets for early intervention to mitigate the onset and progression of myopia among children.1 Research has suggested that insufficient time spent outdoors in childhood is one of myopia’s major modifiable risk factors,2 and public health interventions that increase time spent outdoors may therefore be the most scalable and efficacious preventative strategies. However, much of the time children spend outdoors consists of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and studies on the effect of time spent outdoors have typically not accounted for potentially confounding protective effects of physical activity against myopia.3 There is a noteworthy lack of research on and understanding of the independent association between myopia and physical activity, which might be measured independently of time spent outdoors by objectively studying physical activity in exclusively indoor environments or including ambient light sensors in studies on physical activity. This knowledge gap may impede the optimisation of behavioural interventions for myopia prevention. Physical activity exerts myriad positive effects on paediatric health and may protect against other eye diseases including glaucoma,4 and there are compelling reasons to expect that it may also attenuate axial elongation independently of time spent outdoors, perhaps through promotion of choroidal perfusion and thickening,5 although this has been disputed.6 A 2017 systematic review by Suhr Thykjaer and colleagues attempted to clarify the relationship between physical activity and myopia, but the authors were unable to draw strong conclusions owing …
- Subjects :
- Male
Gerontology
medicine.medical_specialty
genetic structures
media_common.quotation_subject
Public health interventions
Physical activity
03 medical and health sciences
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
0302 clinical medicine
Promotion (rank)
Intervention (counseling)
Epidemiology
Myopia
medicine
Humans
Child
Exercise
media_common
business.industry
Public health
Behavioural intervention
High myopia
eye diseases
Sensory Systems
Ophthalmology
Child, Preschool
030221 ophthalmology & optometry
Female
business
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14682079 and 00071161
- Volume :
- 104
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- British Journal of Ophthalmology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....1754e522b29b003091e3d762de0b6274