Does vitamin D mediate the protective effects of time outdoors on myopia? Findings from a prospective birth cohort

Guggenheim, Jeremy Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5164-340X, Williams, Cathy, Northstone, Kate, Howe, Laura D., Tilling, Kate, St Pourcain, Beate, McMahon, George and Lawlor, Debbie A. 2014. Does vitamin D mediate the protective effects of time outdoors on myopia? Findings from a prospective birth cohort. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 55 (12) , pp. 8550-8558. 10.1167/iovs.14-15839

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Abstract

Purpose. More time outdoors is associated with a lesser risk of myopia, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. We tested the hypothesis that 25-hydroxyvitamin D (vitamin D) mediates the protective effects of time outdoors against myopia. Methods. We analyzed data for children participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) population-based birth cohort: noncycloplegic autorefraction at age 7 to 15 years; maternal report of time outdoors at age 8 years and serum vitamin D2 and D3 at age 10 years. A survival analysis hazard ratio (HR) for incident myopia was calculated for children spending a high- versus low-time outdoors, before and after controlling for vitamin D level (N = 3677). Results. Total vitamin D and D3, but not D2, levels were higher in children who spent more time outdoors (mean [95% confidence interval (CI)] vitamin D in nmol/L: Total, 60.0 [59.4–60.6] vs. 56.9 [55.0–58.8], P = 0.001; D3, 55.4 [54.9–56.0] vs. 53.0 [51.3–54.9], P = 0.014; D2, 5.7 [5.5–5.8] vs. 5.4 [5.1–5.8], P = 0.23). In models including both time outdoors and sunlight-exposure–related vitamin D, there was no independent association between vitamin D and incident myopia (Total, HR = 0.83 [0.66–1.04], P = 0.11; D3, HR = 0.89 [0.72–1.10], P = 0.30), while time outdoors retained the same strong negative association with incident myopia as in unadjusted models (HR = 0.69 [0.55–0.86], P = 0.001). Conclusions. Total vitamin D and D3 were biomarkers for time spent outdoors, however there was no evidence they were independently associated with future myopia.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Optometry and Vision Sciences
Subjects:	R Medicine > RE Ophthalmology
Publisher:	Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
ISSN:	0146-0404
Date of Acceptance:	28 October 2014
Last Modified:	28 Oct 2022 08:26
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/70814

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