Epidemiological Study of Cumulative Ocular Ultraviolet Exposure in Relation to Pterygium and Cataract

• Published in: The Journal of The Japanese Society for Cataract Research Vol. 35; no. 1; pp. 7 - 12
• Main Author: Hatsusaka, Natsuko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: The Japanese Society for Cataract Research 2023; 日本白内障学会
• Subjects: cortical cataract; cumulative ocular UV exposure (COUV); nuclear cataract; pterygium; retrodots; 核白内障; 皮質白内障; 翼状片
• ISSN: 0915-4302; 2188-613X
• DOI: 10.14938/cataract.35-002

Ultraviolet (UV)-related ocular diseases occur from the cornea to the lens, and high ocular UV exposure increases the risk of developing pterygium and cataracts. The authors have conducted epidemiological studies in various regions with different UV intensities not only to compare the outcome by each region but also to calculate the cumulative ocular UV exposure (COUV) for each subject. In the present study, we examined the risk of cataract in pterygium in 1,547 Han Chinese subjects aged 50 years or older (age 60.4±9.1 years), in which UV exposure was considered to be the main cause.We then indirectly evaluated the risk by cataract type for UV exposure. There was a significant correlation between COUV and pterygium, indicating that pterygium is a useful indicator as an index of ocular UV exposure. The most common cataract types associated with pterygium were nuclear, retrodots, and cortical without opacity in the pupillary. We intend to clarify the relationship between UV exposure and ocular diseases in childhood in future studies.