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. 2021 Jun 15;16(6):e0253093.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253093. eCollection 2021.

Association among pterygium, cataracts, and cumulative ocular ultraviolet exposure: A cross-sectional study in Han people in China and Taiwan

Natsuko Hatsusaka  1   2 , Naoki Yamamoto  1   2 , Hisanori Miyashita  1 , Eri Shibuya  1 , Norihiro Mita  1 , Mai Yamazaki  1 , Teppei Shibata  1 , Hidetoshi Ishida  1 , Yuki Ukai  1 , Eri Kubo  1 , Hong-Ming Cheng  3 , Hiroshi Sasaki  1   2
Affiliations

Association among pterygium, cataracts, and cumulative ocular ultraviolet exposure: A cross-sectional study in Han people in China and Taiwan

Natsuko Hatsusaka et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Purpose: Pterygium is an ocular surface disorder mainly caused by ultraviolet (UV) light exposure. This study explored the relationships between six cataract types with pterygium and UV exposure.

Methods: We have previously studied cataracts in residents of three regions in China and Taiwan with different UV intensities. From that study, we identified 1,547 subjects with information on the presence or absence of pterygium. Pterygium severity was graded by corneal progress rate. Cataracts were graded by classification systems as three main types (cortical, nuclear, posterior subcapsular) and three subtypes (retrodots, waterclefts, fiber folds) with high prevalence in middle-aged and elderly people. We calculated the cumulative ocular UV exposure (COUV) based on subject data and National Aeronautics and Space Administration data on UV intensities and used logistic regression to calculate odds ratios for the associations of COUV, cataract, and pterygium.

Results: We found an overall pterygium prevalence of 23.3%, with significant variation among the three regions. Four cataract types (cortical, nuclear, posterior subcapsular, and retrodots) were significantly associated with the presence of pterygium.

Conclusions: There was a significant association between COUV and pterygium, indicating that COUV is associated with the risk of pterygium development and that pterygium is useful as an index of UV exposure. Furthermore, the type of cataract in eyes with pterygium may indicate the level of UV exposure.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Locations of the three targeted regions.
The map image resource is copyrighted by EarthExplorer of United States Geological Survey (USGS, https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/).
Fig 2
Fig 2. Relationship between pterygium and COUV.
a: The average COUV was not significantly different among the three regions. b: The average COUV of eyes with pterygium was 1.86-fold higher than for eyes without pterygium. ×: average value, ○: outlier. COUV, cumulative ocular UV exposure.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Relationship between pterygium and COUV levels.
The COUV values were divided into five levels: < 5, 5 to < 10, 10 to < 15, 15 to < 20, and ≥ 20 (×106), and the relationship between pterygium and COUV was investigated. COUV, cumulative ocular UV exposure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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