Abstract
Purpose :
To determine the prevalence and risk factors of myopia in Singaporean, Indian and Malaysian children using an innovative digital data capture method.
Methods :
Data from Singaporean, Indian and Malaysian children (2–16 years old) were captured using the plano application. The process of data capture included; 1) voluntary download of plano by parents; 2) parent registration; 3) child registration, where data on the child’s socio-demographics, myopia status and spectacle prescription are captured via parental self-report. Data collection commenced in November 2018, September 2019 and October 2019 for Singapore, India and Malaysia, respectively.
Results :
A total of 21,896 children were included in this analysis, including 5,457 children from Singapore (59.5% were males, mean age: 7.51±3.40 years), 16,049 children from India (71.8% were males, mean age: 8.17±4.41 years) and 390 children from Malaysia (63.8% were males, mean age: 8.43±4.35 years). The prevalence of myopia in Singapore, India and Malaysia was 25.3% (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 24.2–26.5%), 5.2% (95% CI: 4.9–5.6%) and 18.0% (95% CI: 14.5–22.2%), respectively. High myopia was found in 1.5% Singaporean children (95% CI: 1.2–1.9%), 0.2% Indian children (95% CI: 0.2–0.3%) and 1.3% Malaysian children (95% CI: 0.6–3.0%). After multivariate adjustments, increasing age (Odds Ratio (OR) = 2.2 per 4-year increase, P < 0.001) and being female (OR: 1.2, P = 0.004) were associated with higher odds of myopia amongst Singaporean children. Increasing age (OR = 1.7 per 4-year increase, P < 0.001), being female (OR: 1.2, P = 0.02) and having more siblings (OR: 1.1, P = 0.002) were all associated with greater odds of myopia amongst the Indian population.
Conclusions :
This study provides age- and country-specific prevalence estimates of myopia in a large sample of Singaporean, Indian and Malaysian children. Rates of myopia were notably high amongst Singaporean children and increased significantly with age. The process of data capture through the plano application and its scalability has proven to be effective. The plano application offers an effective platform for data collection and forms a good foundation for tracking lifetime eye health data globally and investigating the influence of emerging risk factors, such as increased screen time and decrease in outdoor activity, with respect to myopia.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.