Noticia_MED_2021_12_17_Investigacion_Consumo_Alcohol_Development_Myopia
Research reveals link between alcohol consumption and myopia development
A 10 gram increase in daily alcohol intake increases the risk of myopia by a relative 5%, according to a study by the University and the CIBER de Obesidad y Nutrición.
FotoCedida/Dr. Covadonga Menéndez Acebal, first author of the article, and Dr. Alfredo Gea, director of the research
17 | 12 | 2021
Alcohol consumption can lead to development or progression of myopia. This is the conclusion reached by researchers at department of Preventive Medicine and Public Healthof the University of Navarra and the CIBER on Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN) and has recently been published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
"Myopia is a highly prevalent condition and one of the leading causes of blindness. In turn, alcohol consumption has been shown to be a risk factor for many diseases and a major contributor to the global burden of disease, although no study until now had assessed the long-term association deadline between alcohol intake and myopia", explains Dr. Covadonga Menéndez Acebal, first author of this article, which is part of her work Fin de Degree as a student at School in Medicine.
To carry out this research, led by Dr Alfredo Gea, the team assessed 15,642 university graduates, recruited between 1999 and 2018 in the Spanish dynamic prospective cohort "project SUN" (University of Navarra Follow-up), and followed up every two years by mailed questionnaires. "On the one hand, we determined the usual alcohol intake of each participant at the start of the study. Subsequently, every two years we collected the development or the progression of myopia during the follow-up", the researcher explains.
After analysing these data, the results showed that alcohol intake was linearly and significantly associated with an increased risk of development or progression of myopia. Thus, a 10 gram increase in daily alcohol intake (roughly equivalent to one glass of wine or one glass of beer) increased the risk by a relative 5%. "The magnitude of the association we found is not very large, but given the commonness of alcohol consumption, the importance of myopia as a health condition and the novelty of this assessment, we believe these findings are of relevance."
Even so, the researcher points out that confirmation of the mechanisms through which this may occur is still needed association, so further research is needed to verify these findings.
