Abstract
Epidemiological studies have reported that the frequency of nuclear cataracts (NUCs) is high among the elderly and in tropical countries. Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and lens temperature are considered as key physical contributors, although their precise quantification is difficult. The aim of this study is to investigate the association of NUC prevalence with UV irradiation and heat load. First, we assessed the lens temperature using thermodynamic modeling considering the thermophysiological response. We then conducted a multivariate linear regression analysis for the epidemiological analysis of NUC prevalence across five cities. A strong correlation was observed between NUC prevalence and the combined effects of UV irradiation and cumulative equivalent minutes at 43 °C (CEM43°C) derived from the computed lens temperature (adjusted R2 = 0.933, p < 0.0001). Heat load significantly contributed to the prevalence at 52%, surpassing the contributions of UV irradiation (31%) and the decline in DNA repair capacity in the lens (17%). These results suggested that both UV radiation and heat load are associated with NUC, with heat load contributing more. Our findings provided important implications for future interventions, particularly in the context of global warming.
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Epidemiological data are available in our previous study (See Supplementary Material). Computational data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request (within five years after the publication).
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This work was supported by "The Joint Usage/Research Center for Interdisciplinary Large-scale Information Infrastructures” and "High-Performance Computing Infrastructure” in Japan (Project ID: jh220043).
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Hiroshi Sasaki and Akimasa Hirata contributed to the study conceptualization, methodology, and supervision. Data investigation was performed by Kotaro Kinoshita, Natsuko Hatsusaka, Eri Kubo, Hiroshi Sasaki, and Akimasa Hirata. Kotaro Kinoshita and Akimasa Hirata visualized the data. Kotaro Kinoshita, Sachiko Kodera, Natsuko Hatsusaka, and Eri Kubo analyzed the data. Kotaro Kinoshita, Sachiko Kodera, Ryusuke Egawa, and Hiroyuki Takizawa contributed to the study software. Kotaro Kinoshita, Sachiko Kodera, and Akimasa Hirata wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Kinoshita, K., Kodera, S., Hatsusaka, N. et al. Association of nuclear cataract prevalence with UV radiation and heat load in lens of older people -five city study-. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 123832–123842 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31079-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31079-2