Kodera Sachiko, Hirata Akimasa, Miura Fumiaki, Rashed Essam A, Hatsusaka Natsuko, Yamamoto Naoki, Kubo Eri, Sasaki Hiroshi
Department of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, 466-8555, Japan.
Department of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, 466-8555, Japan; Center of Biomedical Physics and Information Technology, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, 466-8555, Japan.
Comput Biol Med. 2020 Nov;126:104009. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2020.104009. Epub 2020 Sep 19.
Recent epidemiological studies have hypothesized that the prevalence of cortical cataracts is closely related to ultraviolet radiation. However, the prevalence of nuclear cataracts is higher in elderly people in tropical areas than in temperate areas. The dominant factors inducing nuclear cataracts have been widely debated. In this study, the temperature increase in the lens due to exposure to ambient conditions was computationally quantified in subjects of 50-60 years of age in tropical and temperate areas, accounting for differences in thermoregulation. A thermoregulatory response model was extended to consider elderly people in tropical areas. The time course of lens temperature for different weather conditions in five cities in Asia was computed. The temperature was higher around the mid and posterior part of the lens, which coincides with the position of the nuclear cataract. The duration of higher temperatures in the lens varied, although the daily maximum temperatures were comparable. A strong correlation (adjusted R > 0.85) was observed between the prevalence of nuclear cataract and the computed cumulative thermal dose in the lens. We propose the use of a cumulative thermal dose to assess the prevalence of nuclear cataracts. Cumulative wet-bulb globe temperature, a new metric computed from weather data, would be useful for practical assessment in different cities.
近期的流行病学研究推测，皮质性白内障的患病率与紫外线辐射密切相关。然而，热带地区老年人核性白内障的患病率高于温带地区。引发核性白内障的主要因素一直存在广泛争议。在本研究中，考虑到体温调节的差异，对热带和温带地区50 - 60岁的受试者因暴露于环境条件下晶状体温度的升高进行了计算量化。扩展了体温调节反应模型以纳入热带地区的老年人。计算了亚洲五个城市不同天气条件下晶状体温度的时间变化过程。晶状体中、后部周围的温度较高，这与核性白内障的位置相符。尽管每日最高温度相当，但晶状体中较高温度的持续时间各不相同。观察到核性白内障的患病率与晶状体中计算出的累积热剂量之间存在强相关性（调整后R>0.85）。我们建议使用累积热剂量来评估核性白内障的患病率。累积湿球黑球温度是一种根据气象数据计算出的新指标，将有助于在不同城市进行实际评估。
