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Obesity loosely correlated to myopia in Indonesian population
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NUSA DUA, Indonesia — Obesity, especially in young female subjects, was loosely correlated to myopia in an urban population, an Indonesian study shows.
 Rina La Distia Nora |
"We suggest that in obese girls, besides general health examination, obese girls should be examined for their ophthalmological status, and we should observe other factors that are related to obesity, such as near work activity and sedentary lifestyle," Rina La Distia Nora, MD, said during the joint meeting of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
The cross-sectional study, as a part of the Jakarta Urban Health Study, looked at 456 subjects studied, 32.3% of which were myopic.
Obese children tended to have shorter anterior radii of corneal curvature, and obese girls tended to be myopic; therefore, Dr. La Distia Nora suggested that obesity may be associated with myopia along with other unanalyzed factors such as near work activity, socioeconomic status and sedentary lifestyle.
Myopia in urban areas in Indonesia, as in many other urban areas, is increasing. In a study from 1989, there was an 11.8% rate of myopia.
"We conclude that obesity might be associated with myopia with other unanalyzed factors," Dr. La Distia Nora said. "In this study we found that obesity was associated with myopia but not correlated to the ocular biometry, so we think that obesity might associate with other factors."