Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the effect of blue-light filtering lens on refractive changes in myopic schoolchildren over 2 years. The current study reports the 1-year interim findings.
Methods :
148 myopic Chinese schoolchildren aged 8-13 years were recruited in a 2-year randomized clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03538002) and were randomly assigned into blue-light filtering (BF) or single vision (SV) lenses treatment groups. The study outcomes were cycloplegic spherical equivalent (SE) and axial length (AL) measured by open-field auto-refractor and non-contact optical biometer, respectively. Baseline measurements were collected before the lens wear, and subjects were followed-up at a 6-month interval. Only the data of the right eyes were used for analysis. Mixed repeated measures analysis of covariance was applied to compare the within-subject time effect and between-subject treatment effect on SE and AL, controlled with age.
Results :
A total of 135 children completed 6- and 12-month follow-ups (65 in BF group vs. 70 in SV group). Subjects in both groups had similar baseline age (mean ±SD; BF vs. SV; 10.0±1.5 vs. 10.2±1.5years), SE (BF vs. SV; -2.70±1.05D vs. -2.62±0.99D), and AL (BF vs. SV; 24.61±0.77mm vs. 24.62±0.77mm). Both SE and AL progressed significantly across time (p<0.001), and the interactions with age were both significant (p<0.001), in which older children tended to progress slower. The progressions in SE and AL were comparable between BF and SV groups (SE: p=0.73; AL: p=0.73).
Conclusions :
Our findings demonstrated that the 12-month effect of BF lens on myopic progression in schoolchildren was insignificant, which could be due to the partial filtering of blue light. Thus, the contribution of wavelength on myopia development shall not be excluded, and a longer study period is warranted.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.