Abstract
Purpose :
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused societal, behavioral changes that have resulted in increased near work and less outdoor time. These changes may influence myopia progression. We performed a retrospective, cross-sectional prevalence study on the population base in Olmsted County, Minnesota to determine if there are short-term changes in myopia.
Methods :
Individuals living in Olmsted County who received ophthalmic care at Mayo Clinic Rochester from 2018 to 2021 were analyzed. Exclusion criteria included 1) visually significant cataract, 2) pseudophakia, 3) prior refractive surgery and 4) Age < 6 years. Manifest refractions were converted to spherical equivalent (SE). Patients with a SE ≤ -0.5 D were classified as myopic while SE ≤ -6.0 D were classified with high myopia. Individual age, sex, visual acuity, and lens prescription data were recorded. An algorithm was designed to estimate prevalence for patients without a manifest refraction utilizing their visual acuity, as was used in the NHANES study1.
Results :
We sampled 11,783 invidiual records (8,413 adults; 3,370 children). In adults from 2018 to 2021, the prevalence of myopia was similar at 61% vs 59% (p=0.3887) and high myopia was also similar at 10% vs 9.9% (p=0.5447). In children from 2018 to 2021, the prevalence of both myopia was similar at 21% vs 17% (p=0.2) and high myopia was also similar at 2.6% and 3.8% (p=.37).
Conclusions :
From 2018 to 2021, we did not find any trends in myopia development over a relatively brief, 4-year window in either pediatric or adult patients living in Olmsted County, Minnesota.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.