Abstract
Purpose: :
To study the progression of myopia in young college students to determine if progression is positively correlated with a more myopic refraction in the retinal periphery as compared with the fovea.
Methods: :
We measured the peripheral refractions of young Cornell students (primarily Caucasian) aged 18-21 years at 5 retinal positions, 25 deg superior, inferior, temporal and nasal to the fovea, and at the fovea, with an infrared video refractor (Power Refractor, MultiChannel Systems Reutlingen, Germany). Progression of refraction was measured by comparing measurements of foveal refractions made with the autorefraction function of a Topcon KR-9000P wavefront analyzer over intervals of approximately 1 year.
Results: :
In 10 subjects (mean age 20.2± 0.27 yr) at last measurement we found an average progression of -0.21 ± 0.058 D in spherical equivalent in an interval of 1.03 ± 0.014 years (p < 0.0056, t test). The mean spherical equivalent refractions at first visit were -3.21 ± 0.89 D. As yet, perhaps because we have not measured a sufficient number of subejcts, we cannot show that the peripheral and central refractions differ significantly from each other.
Conclusions: :
Young Cornell students show a progression of myopia, and thus provide an opportunity to test the hypothesis that this progression is driven by relative peripheral myopia.
Keywords: myopia • development • emmetropization