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Association of low birth weight with myopic refractive error and lower visual acuity in adulthood: results from the population-based Gutenberg Health Study (GHS)
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    Comments on: Association of low birth weight with myopic refractive error and lower visual acuity in adulthood: results from the population-based Gutenberg Health Study (GHS)
    • Ishaana Sood, Community Ophthalmology and Research Dr Shroff's Charity Eye Hospital
    • Other Contributors:
      • Shalinder Sabherwal, Head- Community Ophthalmology and Public Health Research

    Dear Editor,

    We read the article published by Fieß, et al (1) with considerable interest and laud them on their study and the large cohort. Considerable work has been done earlier, which looks at factors associated with refractive errors, however few studies document association with birth weight. Keeping this in mind, we feel that there are a few points requiring further clarity in this article.

    The authors mention their inability to control for factors such as paternal refractive error and family history. However, previous studies not only discuss the paternal refractive error and family history, but also expand the affecting factors to include the number of myopic parents. (2) In the study design described by Höhn et al. where comprehensive information on living conditions and birth weight was collected via computer-assisted telephone interviews, (3) information on number of myopic parents could also have been collected, and would have proven to be an important covariate in the analysis.

    The authors also report that 8369 participants provided birth weight data, of which 45 were excluded due to unreliable self-reported data [<1000g (n=7) or >6000g (n=38)]. However, tables 2 and 3 report analysed results based on 8369 participants not 8324 (after exclusion of the 45). Even though 45 is an insignificant number, and does not affect the results as such, this aspect of the results needs further clarity.

    Lastly, while the authors mention, furt...

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    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.