Childhood laziness is associated with increased health risks in adulthood

Adults who suffered from amblyopia ('amblyopia') in childhood are more likely to experience high blood pressure, obesity, metabolic syndrome and an increased risk of heart attack as adults, a new study led by UCL researchers has found. Research has revealed this.

In publishing your research, e-clinical medicinethe authors emphasize that although they identified a correlation, their study does not show a causal relationship between amblyopia and poor health in adulthood.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 126,000 participants aged 40 to 69 in the UK Biobank cohort who underwent eye exams.

During recruitment, participants were asked whether they had received treatment for amblyopia in childhood and whether they still had symptoms of amblyopia as adults. Participants were also asked if they had a medical diagnosis of diabetes, hypertension, or heart/cerebrovascular disease (angina, heart attack, or stroke).

Meanwhile, body mass index (BMI), blood sugar and cholesterol levels were also measured, and mortality rates were also tracked.

Researchers found that of the 3,238 participants who reported experiencing “lazy eye” as children, 82.2% had persistent vision loss in one eye into adulthood. .

They found that participants who had low vision as children were 29% more likely to develop diabetes, 25% more likely to have high blood pressure, and 16% more likely to be obese. The risk of heart attack was also increased even when other risk factors for these conditions were taken into account, such as other diseases, ethnicity, and social class.

This increased risk of health problems was found not only in participants with ongoing vision problems, but also to some extent in participants who had amblyopia as children and 20/20 vision as adults; The correlation was not very strong.

Corresponding author Professor Jugnoo Rahi (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, UCL Eye Institute, Great Ormond Street Hospital) said: 'Amblyopia is an eye condition that affects four in 100 children. “It's a disease. Every child in the UK has amblyopia.” To ensure prompt diagnosis and appropriate eye treatment, children should undergo a vision test before the age of five.

“Markers associated with an increased risk of serious illness in adulthood are rarely present in childhood, and thanks to mass testing, there are no known markers that are measured in all children. ” is also rare.

“Many affected children and their families may wish to consider our findings as further motivation to try to achieve a healthy lifestyle from childhood.”

Amblyopia is a condition in which vision in one eye does not develop properly and can be caused by strabismus or farsightedness.

This is a neurodevelopmental disease that occurs when there is a failure in brain-eye coordination and the brain is unable to properly process visual signals from the affected eye. Because it usually causes vision loss in only one eye, many children are unaware of their vision abnormalities and are first diagnosed through a vision test at age 4 or 5.

A recent report from the Academy of Medicine, in which some researchers from the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health took part, tackled the decline in physical and mental health of children under five in the UK and We are calling on policy makers to prioritize health.

The research team hopes their new study will help strengthen this message and highlight how children's health lays the foundation for adult health.

Vision and the eyes are the sentinels of overall health and are closely connected to other organ systems, whether it's heart disease or metabolic dysfunction. This is one reason to test whether your eyesight is good in both eyes.

We emphasize that our study does not demonstrate a causal relationship between amblyopia and poor health in adulthood. Our research means that the “average” adult who had amblyopia as a child is more likely to develop these disorders than the “average” adult who did not have amblyopia. . The results of this study do not mean that all children with amblyopia will develop cardiometabolic disorders as adults. ”

Dr Siegfried Wagner, first author, UCL Eye Institute and Moorfields Eye Hospital

The research was carried out in collaboration with the Aegean University, the University of Leicester, King's College London, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the Biomedical Research Center (BRC) at Moorfields Eye Hospital and the UCL Eye Research Institute. his NIHR BRC at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital;

This research was funded by the Medical Research Council, NIHR and the Ulverscroft Foundation.