This study brings forth a bitter truth, though we don’t know how many people would believe it. According to a team from Kaiser Permanente, childhood obesity could increase the risk of blindness.
Though we wish it’s untrue, the scientists cited that obese children may be at greater risk of suffering from a rare condition called idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH). This disease may lead to blindness, they say.
Study lead author Sonu M. Brara, MD, of the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center Neurology Department, cited “Childhood obesity has again been shown to be associated with a serious disease. This research is the strongest evidence to date that obesity is associated with IIH in children — it also suggests that the childhood obesity epidemic is likely to lead to increased morbidity from IIH, including blindness.”
In an extensive trial, nearly 900,000 children aged between 2 and 19 years were inspected. Among these children, the team identified 78 cases of the aforementioned disease. As per the findings reported in the Journal of Pediatrics, overweight kids were likelier to suffer from IIH.
As seen in the trial, extremely obese persons were apparently 16 folds likelier to encounter IIH, as compared to normal weight counterparts. In terms of modestly obese kids, the risk factor appeared to be 6 folds. Overweight children seemed to carry 3.5% risk factor for the same.
This study is shocking reminder that childhood obesity needs to be controlled.