Abstract
Purpose :
To assess the prevalence of myopia in school children in rural and urban region in Russia.
Methods :
The school-based Ural Children Eye Study included included children of 3 schools in the urban / rural region of Ufa / Bashkortostan in Russia. The parents underwent a detailed interview and the children an ophthalmological and general examination including automatic and subjective refractometry with cycloplegia and biometry.
Results :
The study included 1571 children (714 boys/856 girls) with a mean age of 12.1 ± 3.1 years (range: 7-18 years). The mean refractive error was -1.14±1.82 diopters (D) (median: -0.63D; range: - 19.75 to +11.25D)). The prevalence of any myopia (≤-0.50D), minor myopia (-0.50D to -1.0D), moderate myopia (-1.01D to -5.99D) and high myopia (≤-6.0D) was 886/1571 (56.4%; 95% confidence intervals (CI):53.9,58.9), 272/1571 (17.3%;95%CI:15.4,19.2), 583/1571 (37.1%;95%CI:34.7,39.5), and 31/1571 (2.0%;95%CI:1.3,2.7), respectively. The prevalence of any myopia increase with older age (odds ratio (OR):1.18;95%CI:1.14,1.22) and female gender (OR:1.28;95%CI:1.04,1.57). Prevalence of high myopia was correlated only with older age (OR:1.42;95%CI:1.22,1.66) but not with gender (P=0.37). Prevalence of any myopia and high myopia increased from 49.1% (95%CI:41.3,56.9) and 0.6% (95%CI:0.00,1.9) in the 10-years-olds to 61.2% (95%CI:53.4,69.0) and 3.3% (95%CI:0.4,62.) in the 14-years-olds to 72.8% (95%CI:64.1,81.6) and 5.8% (95%CI:1.2,10.4) in the 18-years-olds. It was not significantly associated with ethnicity (P=0.46). Myopic refractive error was correlated with older age (beta:0.35;P<0.001), female gender (beta:0.06;P=0.02), and less time spent outdoors (beta:- 0.07;P=0.003). Mean axial length was 23.7±1.1mm (median:23.6mm;range:18.1,28.3mm).
Conclusions :
Also Russia experiences a marked increase in the prevalence of myopia and high
myopia in school children, with a prevalence of high myopia of 5.8% (95%CI:1.2,10.4) in the 18-years- olds. While the prevalence of any myopia was associated with older age and female gender, gender was not associated with the prevalence of high myopia. As in other studies, less time spent outdoors was associated with myopia.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.