Adverse childhood experiences, childhood socioeconomic status, and subsequent high myopia: Results from six universities in China.

BACKGROUND

High myopia is a critical public health problem. The relationships of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and childhood socioeconomic status (SES) with later high myopia remain under explored.

METHODS

A total of 17,237 college students from six universities were recruited through a multistage, random cluster sampling method in Shaanxi province, China. ACEs were evaluated by the ACEs International Questionnaire. Childhood SES was assessed by parental educational attainment. The associations of ACEs and childhood SES with high myopia were analyzed using logistic regression models.

RESULTS

Among the 17,237 college students, 1687 (9.8 %) were high myopia, and 72.2 % of participants had encountered at least one ACE, with 10.7 % having experienced four or more ACEs. After adjustment for potential covariates, participants with high levels of ACE exposure (≥4) had significant higher odds of high myopia (OR = 1.27, 95 %CI = 1.08-1.48) compared with the low levels of ACE exposure (0-1). Moreover, high childhood SES was also associated with an increased likelihood of high myopia (OR = 1.16, 95 %CI = 1.02-1.33). Furthermore, ACEs and high childhood SES exerted significant additive effects on the risk of high myopia, with a relative excess risk due to interaction of 0.68 (95 %CI = 0.12-1.25) and attributable proportion due to the interaction of 0.36 (95 %CI = 0.14-0.58).

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that ACEs and high childhood SES were significantly associated with high myopia among college students, and that they had a significant joint effect on high myopia. These results may provide new insights for the development of targeted strategies aimed at the prevention of high myopia.