Parental smoking and childhood refractive error: the STARS study
Purpose To assess the relationship between parental smoking and childhood refractive errors in Singapore Chinese children aged 6–72 months recruited through the STrabismus, Amblyopia, and Refractive errors in Singaporean children study. Methods A total of 4164 children were recruited, with a positiv...
Saved in:
| Published in: | Eye (London) Vol. 26; no. 10; pp. 1324 - 1328 |
|---|---|
| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
London
Nature Publishing Group UK
01-10-2012
Nature Publishing Group |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Purpose
To assess the relationship between parental smoking and childhood refractive errors in Singapore Chinese children aged 6–72 months recruited through the STrabismus, Amblyopia, and Refractive errors in Singaporean children study.
Methods
A total of 4164 children were recruited, with a positive response rate of 72.3% (
n
=3009). Cycloplegic refraction measurements were obtained from all children by trained eye professionals. Parents underwent an interviewer-administered questionnaire with information on demographics, lifestyle, and parental smoking history being obtained.
Results
Spherical equivalent readings were obtained for 87.7% of the children. In all, 52.1% were male (
n
=1375). The overall prevalence of myopia (at least −0.5 D) was 11.0%. Overall, 37.1% of the fathers interviewed gave a history of smoking. Among the mothers interviewed, 9.2% gave a history of smoking, 6.6% had smoked during the child's life, and 2.2% had smoked during the pregnancy. Maternal history of ever smoking, smoking during child's life, and smoking during pregnancy were associated with decreased odds ratio (OR) of childhood myopia (OR 0.50 (
P
=0.01), OR 0.39 (
P
=0.01), and OR 0.3 (
P
=0.14), respectively). Paternal history of smoking was associated with decreased OR of childhood myopia (OR of 0.72 (
P
=0.02)).
Conclusion
In light of this finding of an inverse association between parental smoking and childhood myopia, further studies are suggested to better understand the role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor pharmacology in ocular development. This may pave the way for the development of targeted treatment strategies for prevention of myopia. |
|---|---|
| Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
| ISSN: | 0950-222X 1476-5454 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/eye.2012.160 |