Abstract
Background/AimsBoth eyes of one individual share the same environment and genes. We examined interocular differences in biometry to determine the potential role of other factors in refractive development.Methods362 subjects (6–7...
Highlights
The debate over the aetiology of myopia has largely focussed on the relative contributions from genetics (‘nature’) and the environment (‘nurture’) in guiding or driving an eye towards myopia[1]
Many myopiaassociated genes are involved in retinal processing, which provides a link between human myopia and animal studies where eye growth is modulated by manipulation of the retinal image[5]
The Northern Ireland Childhood Errors of Refraction (NICER) study is an ongoing study of refractive error in children and young adults in Northern Ireland
Summary
The debate over the aetiology of myopia has largely focussed on the relative contributions from genetics (‘nature’) and the environment (‘nurture’) in guiding or driving an eye towards myopia[1]. The rapid rise in prevalence in certain countries over a generation points strongly towards environmental factors as the primary driver in the increasing the number of individuals exhibiting myopia. An emerging unifying factor are the gene-environment interactions identified for certain genes[3,4]. A factor that has received little attention in eye growth research is the role of stochastic factors, i.e. variability that comes about from randomness or noise within the biological mechanisms controlling eye growth. Inclusion of this element changes the question from nature versus nurture, to nature, nurture or chance[6]
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