Abstract
Purpose :
To explore the effect of genetic variation and environmental factors on myopia boom in Chinese young generation.
Methods :
We examined 512 parents and children from a population-based twin registry. Only first-born twin greater than 17 years old were selected to represent the young generation, and their parents represent the parental generation. Spherical equivalent (SE) was obtained by auto-refractor under cycloplegia for children and non-cycloplegia for parents. Nearwork and outdoor activities were collected using questionnaires. Thirty-nine myopia related loci were determined by single nucleotide polymorphism array. Since a bimodal distribution of SE was found in young generation, cluster analysis was used to divide all children into two clusters: relative myopic cluster and relative hyperopic cluster.
Results :
The mean SE was -0.89±2.51 Diopter (D) in parents and -2.79±2.82 D in children. In cluster analysis, 254 children was divided into relative myopic cluster (-4.81±1.75 D) and 258 was divided into relative hyperopic cluster (-0.58±1.39 D). SE in parents of relative myopic and hyperopic cluster was -1.46±2.99 D and -0.49±1.85 D, respectively. Multivariate regression analysis showed that parental refraction, genetic variation, and near-work were risk factors for children’s myopia. Furthermore, parental refraction was a risk factor for children’s myopia in relative myopic cluster (β=0.07 for both parents, P<0.05), while near work was the only risk factor for children’s myopia in relative hyperopic cluster(β=0.17, P=0.03).
Conclusions :
Both parental refraction, an index of gene and environment interaction, and environmental factor contribute to myopia boom in the Chinese young generation.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.