Abstract
Purpose :
To estimate gender- and age-specific prevalence of myopia and high myopia and evaluate associated factors in a population-based sample of African American adults 40 years and older in Inglewood, California.
Methods :
Noncycloplegic automated refraction with supplemental standardized subjective refraction was performed on all persons with a presenting visual acuity of worse than 20/20. Myopia and high myopia were defined as a spherical equivalent of ≤ -1.0 diopter (D) and ≤ -5.0D, respectively in phakic eyes with worse refraction. Potential factors associated with myopia and high myopia were assessed using a questionnaire and clinical examination and evaluated in multivariable logistic regression.
Results :
Among the 6347 AFEDS participants, 5860 (92.3%) participants had at least one phakic eye. Among them, 5848 (99.8%) had refractive error measured. The overall prevalence of myopia (≤-1.0 D) was 29.0% (95% confidence interval -CI, 27.8% to 30.2%) and of high myopia (≤-5.0 D), 5.2% (95% CI, 4.6% to 5.8%). The overall prevalence of myopia was similar in men and women; however, prevalence of high myopia was higher in females (5.9%) than males (4.0%) (P adjusted for age<0.001). When participants were stratified by age, myopia and high myopia were more prevalent in younger female African Americans than older female African Americans (Ps for age trend<0.001), but there was no age-related difference in male African Americans (Ps >0.05). This pattern remained among participants without nuclear opacification. Younger age, more education, never being married, recent eye exam, history of ocular diseases, male gender, presence of diabetes, nonsmokers, and nonregular alcohol drinking African Americans were associated with higher prevalence of myopia; however, the latter four did not remain associated after excluding participants with nuclear opacity. Risk indicators associated with high myopia were: younger age, more education, never being married, recent eye exam, and female gender regardless of the presence of nuclear opacity.
Conclusions :
The burden of myopia and high myopia in older African Americans is higher than that have been previously reported for African Americans, Mexican Americans, and non-Hispanic whites in the United States. Younger generations of African Americans with more education are associated with a higher risk for myopia and high myopia compared to older African Americans with less education.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.