Abstract
Purpose :
To assess changes in refractive error (RE) over a 3-year period in children aged 3 to 17 years old. In addition, the association of RE change with age, gender, and race was studied.
Methods :
A total of 5570 medical records of children seen in a school-based eye clinic in Chicago were reviewed. Children who had a comprehensive eye exam in 4 consecutive years and had cyclorefraction in each exam were qualified for the study, resulting in 267 subjects. Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent (SE) ≤ -0.75 D in the right eye and hyperopia as ≥+0.75 D.
Results :
The prevalence of myopia, emmetropia, and hyperopia was 37.8%, 31.5%, and 30.7% respectively in the 1st-year eye exam and changed to 50.2%, 22.8%, and 27% in 4th-year eye exam. The average annual change in RE among all subjects was -0.24 D, with statistically significant difference (P<0.0001) among myopia (-0.38 D), emmetropia (-0.18 D), and hyperopia (-0.14 D). Statistical significant difference (Ps<0.0001) in RE change was found between myopia and emmetropia groups as well as between myopia and hyperopia groups, but not between emmetropia and hyperopia groups (P=0.80). Multiple regressions showed that both children age and SE of the 1st exam were statistically significant predictors of annual change in RE with more change seen in myopes and younger children.
Conclusions :
Our study found that myopic children had more robust change in RE than hyperopes and emmetropes. Change in RE can be predicted by children age and baseline RE.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.