Bright lighting seems to positively affect the quality of vision. However, the situation changes when it comes to artificial light sources.
Researchers from South Korea, working at the Medical College of Jeju National University, conducted an extensive study on the impact of nighttime lighting in cities on eye health. The experiment involved 126,000 potential participants aged between 50 and 75 years.
The scientists collected and analyzed data on the health status of the participants, particularly regarding their vision. The results showed that 4,100 individuals were diagnosed with macular degeneration—a disease affecting the nerve retina of the eye. The researchers compared the residences of these individuals with images obtained from satellites, which allowed them to assess the level of nighttime lighting in their regions.
It turned out that elderly people living in the brightest lit nighttime cities were 2.17 times more likely to suffer from macular degeneration compared to those living in areas with minimal levels of artificial lighting. In regions with moderate nighttime lighting, the risk increased by 12 percent.
Additional factors such as obesity, smoking, and alcohol consumption only exacerbate the negative impact of artificial lighting at night on the development of age-related macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of vision loss in older adults. The researchers reported the findings in an article published in JAMA Network Open.
