The Association between Maternal Reproductive Age and Progression of Refractive Error in Urban Students in Beijing

PLoS One. 2015 Sep 30;10(9):e0139383. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139383. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the association between maternal reproductive age and their children' refractive error progression in Chinese urban students.

Methods: The Beijing Myopia Progression Study was a three-year cohort investigation. Cycloplegic refraction of these students at both baseline and follow-up vision examinations, as well as non-cycloplegic refraction of their parents at baseline, were performed. Student's refractive change was defined as the cycloplegic spherical equivalent (SE) of the right eye at the final follow-up minus the cycloplegic SE of the right eye at baseline.

Results: At the final follow-up, 241 students (62.4%) were reexamined. 226 students (58.5%) with completed refractive data, as well as completed parental reproductive age data, were enrolled. The average paternal and maternal age increased from 29.4 years and 27.5 years in 1993-1994 to 32.6 years and 29.2 years in 2003-2004, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, students who were younger (β = 0.08 diopter/year/year, P<0.001), with more myopic refraction at baseline (β = 0.02 diopter/year/diopter, P = 0.01), and with older maternal reproductive age (β = -0.18 diopter/year/decade, P = 0.01), had more myopic refractive change. After stratifying the parental reproductive age into quartile groups, children with older maternal reproductive age (trend test: P = 0.04) had more myopic refractive change, after adjusting for the children's age, baseline refraction, maternal refraction, and near work time. However, no significant association between myopic refractive change and paternal reproductive age was found.

Conclusions: In this cohort, children with older maternal reproductive age had more myopic refractive change. This new risk factor for myopia progression may partially explain the faster myopic progression found in the Chinese population in recent decades.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Beijing / epidemiology
  • Child
  • Cohort Studies
  • Disease Progression
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Maternal Age*
  • Middle Aged
  • Refractive Errors / epidemiology*
  • Refractive Errors / pathology
  • Students*

Grants and funding

The study was supported by the Innovation Research Project of the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University (YNCX201308), the Research Startup Project for doctors of the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University (KYQD131101), the Research Startup Project of Wenzhou Medical University (89213008), and the Beijing Science & Technology Novel Star Program (2009B44). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.