Abstract
Purpose :
Soft contact lenses for myopia control (MC) are often evaluated in younger children (≤12 years), but meaningful myopia progression can occur during the teenage years. We performed post-hoc analysis of a prospective clinical study in myopic children to learn about subjective vision experience in soft contact lenses for MC by age.
Methods :
This was a multi-site, single-masked, 3x3 crossover study with a run-in period. Healthy myopic children from 7 and 17 years old were recruited, balancing the number of children 7-12 years old with those 13-17 years. Subjects initially used a daily disposable (DD) soft contact lens (SCL) with conventional optics (1DAM) for one week, then lens wear sequence was randomized and subjects were fit with one of three MC SCLs for each of three, 2-week periods. There were two senofilcon A prototype MC SCLs with noncoaxial ring-focus designs (for enhancing efficacy [EE] and enhancing vision [EV]) and one omafilcon A dual-focus (DF) design. Subjective vision was assessed using the Pediatric Myopia Control Questionnaire (PMCQ) at the 2-week follow-up. An overall vision item was analyzed using the Pearson chi-square test to assess differences in top two box (T2B, excellent and very good) proportions between the two age groups for each lens type separately.
Results :
The intent-to-treat population included 75 participants, with 38 from 7-12 years (mean 10.6 ± 1.05 years) and 37 from 13-17 years (mean 14.7 ± 1.31 years). Patient-reported overall vision by lens type and age is shown in Figure 1. A significant difference in T2B proportions by age was detected for EE (p=0.032) and approached for DF (p=0.053), but there was no significant difference for 1DAM (p=0.252) or EV (p=0.502). Two subjects discontinued due to unsatisfactory vision with a test article, both from the 13-17 age group.
Conclusions :
The subjective visual impact of MC SCLs may be perceived differently in younger versus older children, with older children more judgmental of their vision experience, at least during the early period of wear. The subjective visual impact by age was design dependent, and a different balance of vision quality and myopia control efficacy may be prudent in older children to better fit their more critical assessment of vision quality and decreasing average annual rate of myopia progression.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.