Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the correlation between reading/writing distance and myopic progression in myopic children.
Methods :
64 myopic schoolchildren aged(7~12) were enrolled in this study, and followed up biannually for a period of two years. Axial length, cycloplegic refraction, accommodative response, reading distance and writing distance were measured at each visit.
Results :
The mean reading distance of these 64 children was 31.92±5.81 cm at the baseline, 30.33±6.30 cm at 6M,31.64±6.42 cm at 12M, 34.13±6.62 cm at 18M, and 33.07±7.75cm at 24M follow-up. So there was significant difference among these five time point visits on the reading distances (F=2.689, P=0.032).While the mean writing distance of these 64 children was 26.54±6.48cm at the baseline time point, 25.02±5.77 cm at 6M, 26.46±6.33 cm at 12M, 27.63±7.00 cm at 18M, and 26.54±6.48 cm at 24M follow up. No significant difference was found on the writing distances among these five visits (F=1.977, P=0.098).There was a significant negative correlation between baseline writing distance and the 2 years’ myopic progression (r=-0.307, p = 0.018). Significant correlations were also found between the baseline writing distance and the axial length changes at 12M (r=-0.301, P=0.019), 18M (r=-0.274, P = 0.034), as well as 24M follow-up (r=-0.290, P=0.025). No significant correlation was found between baseline reading distance and 2 years’ myopic progression.Significant correlations were found between accommodative lags of baseline writing distance and the axial length change at 12M（r=0.25, P=0.045）and 24M (r=0.26, P=0.045) follow-ups. No significant correlation was found between accommodative lags of baseline reading distance and 2 years’myopic progression. Correlations were also found between convergence angle at baseline writing distance and the axial length change at the 12M (r=0.312, P=0.015), 18M (r=0.299, P=0.020) and 24M (r=0.304, P=0.018) follow-up. Significant correlations were also found between convergence angle at baseline writing distance and myopic progression at 24M follow-ups（r=0.307, P=0.018）.
Conclusions :
Writing distance seemed kept stability during the 2 years follow-up in children with myopia, and is closer than their reading distance. Closer writing distance predicts faster myopic progression. While the reading distance showed no significant correlated with the myopia progression.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.