Children with amblyopia are more likely to experience hypertension, obesity, increased risk of heart attack and metabolic syndrome in adulthood, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.
The researchers analysed data from 126,000 participants aged between 40 and 69 years and confirmed that 82.2% of 3,238 participants who had amblyopia as a child had reduced vision in one eye as an adult.
Findings also showed that participants with amblyopia as a child had 29% higher odds of developing diabetes, 25% higher odds of having hypertension and 16% higher odds of having obesity, plus an increased risk of heart attack.
In the study, published in eClinicalMedicine, the authors stressed that while they had identified a correlation, their research did not show a causal relationship between amblyopia and ill health in adulthood.
Study author Professor Jugnoo Rahi (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute for Child Health, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Great Ormond Street Hospital), said: ‘It is rare to have a ‘marker’ in childhood that is associated with increased risk of serious disease in adult life.
‘The large numbers of affected children and their families, may want to think of our findings as an extra incentive for trying to achieve healthy lifestyles from childhood.’