Abstract
Purpose:
We evaluated the effect of "no correction" versus "full correction with single vision spectacles" on the rate of progression of myopia in Chinese children with myopia.
Methods:
67 Chinese children, aged 9-12 years with myopia (-0.50D to -3.50D spherical equivalent, astigmatism ≤ 1.0D) were enrolled in a prospective clinical trial (July- August 2010) conducted at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Guangzhou, China and randomly assigned to either single vision spectacles (n=35, SPL control group) or no correction (n=32, NC test group). Ethics approval was obtained. Cycloplegic autorefraction was conducted and axial length measured at baseline and 6 monthly intervals for a year. The changes in progression of myopia both in terms of spherical equivalent and axial length were determined and differences between the groups determined using linear mixed model analysis. Significance was set at p<0.05.
Results:
Of the 67 children, 60 (32 from SPL and 28 from NC group) completed the 6 month and 51 (31 from SPL and 20 from NC group) completed the 12 month visit. At 12 months, 28 from SPL and only 10 children from the NC group were found compliant. Non compliant children from SPL group did not wear spectacles at all times and non compliant children from the NC group obtained and wore spectacles citing blurred vision as the reason. After adjusting for age, parental myopia, gender, baseline value, progression in myopia for SPL vs NC group measured in terms of change in spherical equivalent was -0.35 ± 0.31 D vs -0.35 ± 0.27D (p=0.561) at 6 months and -0.65 ± 0.38D and -0.77 ± 0.32D (p=0.646) at 12 months. The axial length changes for SPL vs NC group were 0.17 ± 0.10mm and 0.23 ±0.12mm at 6 months (p=0.171) and 0.31 ± 0.15mm and 0.35 ± 0.13mm at 12 months (p=0.786) respectively. When the rate of progression at 12 months was analysed for compliant versus non compliant participants it was found to be -0.70 ± 0.38 and -0.83 ± 0.24D (p=0.386) for "NC" group and -0.65 ± 0.39D and -0.66 ± 0.26D for the "SPL" group(p=0.221).
Conclusions:
In this small group of children, wearing spectacle lenses did not increase the rate of progression of myopia compared to those who did not wear any correction.
Keywords: 605 myopia •
718 spectacle lens