Hyperopia Is Not Causally Associated With a Major Deficit in Educational Attainment

UK Biobank Eye and Vision Consortium

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Abstract

Purpose: Hyperopia (farsightedness) has been associated with a deficit in children's educational attainment in some studies. We aimed to investigate the causality of the relationship between refractive error and educational attainment.

Methods: Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis in 74,463 UK Biobank participants was used to estimate the causal effect of refractive error on years spent in full-time education, which was taken as a measure of educational attainment. A polygenic score for refractive error derived from 129 genetic variants was used as the instrumental variable. Both linear and nonlinear (allowing for a nonlinear relationship between refractive error and educational attainment) MR analyses were performed.

Results: Assuming a linear relationship between refractive error and educational attainment, the causal effect of refractive error on years spent in full-time education was estimated as -0.01 yr/D (95% confidence interval, -0.04 to +0.02; P = 0.52), suggesting minimal evidence for a non-zero causal effect. Nonlinear MR supported the hypothesis of the nonlinearity of the relationship (I2 = 80.3%; Cochran's Q = 28.2; P = 8.8e-05) but did not suggest that hyperopia was associated with a major deficit in years spent in education.

Conclusions: This work suggested that the causal relationship between refractive error and educational attainment was nonlinear but found no evidence that moderate hyperopia caused a major deficit in educational attainment. Importantly, however, because statistical power was limited and some participants with moderate hyperopia would have worn spectacles as children, modest adverse effects may have gone undetected.

Translational Relevance: These findings suggest that moderate hyperopia does not cause a major deficit in educational attainment.

Original languageEnglish
Article number34
JournalTranslational vision science & technology
Volume10
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Oct 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Supported by the Welsh Government and Fight for Sight (24WG201). The sponsor or funding organizations had no role in the design or conduct of this research.

Funding Information:
The authors thank the UK Biobank participants. This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource (application #17351). The UK Biobank was established by the Wellcome Trust (London, UK), the Medical Research Council (Swindon, UK), the Department for Health (London, UK), the Scottish Government (Edinburgh, UK), and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (Warrington, UK). It also received funding from the Welsh Assembly Government (Cardiff, UK), the British Heart Foundation, and Diabetes UK. Collection of eye and vision data was supported by the Department for Health through an award made by the National Institute for Health Research to the Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology (London, UK; BRC2_009). Additional support was provided by a grant from the Special Trustees of Moorfields Eye Hospital (London, UK; ST 12 09). Data analysis was carried out using the HAWK computing cluster, maintained by Supercomputing Wales and Cardiff University ARCCA. Supported by the Welsh Government and Fight for Sight (24WG201). The sponsor or funding organizations had no role in the design or conduct of this research.

Funding Information:
The authors thank the UK Biobank partic ipants. This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource (application #17351). The UK Biobank was established by the Wellcome Trust (London, UK), the Medical Research Council (Swindon, UK), the Department for Health (London, UK), the Scottish Government (Edinburgh, UK), and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (Warrington, UK). It also received funding from the Welsh Assembly Government (Cardiff, UK), the British Heart Foundation, and Diabetes UK. Collection of eye and vision data was supported by the Department for Health through an award made by the National Institute for Health Research to the Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology (London, UK; BRC2_009). Additional support was provided by a grant from the Special Trustees of Moorfields Eye Hospital (London, UK; ST 12 09). Data analysis was carried out using the HAWK computing cluster, maintained by Supercomputing Wales and Cardiff University ARCCA.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors.

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