AGE-RELATED NUCLEAR LENS OPACITIES ARE ASSOCIATED WITH REDUCED GROWTHBEFORE 1 YEAR OF AGE

PURPOSE. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between fetal and infant growth, as measured by birthweight and weight at 1 ye ar and the development of age-related lens opacities. METHODS. A total of 1428 men and women who were born in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, between 1920 and 1930, and for whom records of birthweight and weight at 1 year were available, were traced and invited for examination. Of these, 717 (50%) attended for ophthalmic examination. After dilation with tropicamide 1%, lens opacities were graded using the Lens Opaciti es Classification System (LOCS) III. RESULTS. In this population of En glish men and women aged 64 to 74 years, most opacities were of the nu clear type. There was no association between birthweight and nuclear l ens opacities. Weight at 1 year was negatively correlated with nuclear opacity score in adult life (P = 0.001). Subjects in the highest tert ile for weight at 1 year (>23 pounds) had an odds ratio of 0.35 (95% c onfidence interval, 0.17 to 0.74) for having a significant nuclear len s opacity (LOCS score of greater than or equal to 3) compared with peo ple in the lowest tertile for weight at 1 year (<21 pounds). This asso ciation remained after controlling for age, sex, smoking, social class , adult height, and diabetes. CONCLUSIONS. To our knowledge, this is t he first time that such an association has been reported; it needs to be replicated in other populations. It could provide part of the expla nation for the observed excess risk of cataract in developing countrie s.