Children with amblyopia may have an increased risk of serious disease in adulthood, revealed a new UK study. Amblyopia could lead to hypertension, obesity and metabolic syndrome in adulthood, as well as an increased risk of heart attack, reported researchers from University College London and Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.   

The study, published in The Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine journal, identified a correlation between amblyopia rather than a causal link, from a sample of more than 126,000 participants aged 40-69 years old. The findings showed that participants with amblyopia as a child had 29% higher odds of developing diabetes, 25% higher odds of having hypertension and 16% higher odds of having obesity. They were also at increased risk of heart attack – even considering other risk factors for these conditions (other disease, ethnicity and socio economic). From the 3,238 participants who reported having a ‘lazy eye’ as a child, 82.2% also had persistent reduced vision in one eye as an adult.