Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate changes in three-year progression of myopic spherical equivalent (SE), axial length (AL) elongation, and cumulative incidence of myopia and high myopia after education exposure terminated after graduation from junior high school at the age of 15.
Methods :
Guangzhou Twin Eye Study is an on-going, population-based, prospective cohort study that measured cycloplegic refractions and AL annually. In current study, a total of 880 first-born twins with baseline age ranging from 7-15 years were enrolled and annually followed up until 18 years. Education exposure was defined as positive if they entered academic senior high school (AHS), and negative if entered vocational senior high school (VHS). A piecewise linear mixed-effects model was used to estimate the effect of education exposures on myopia progression before and after 15 years old.
Results :
From 7 to 15 years, the SE evolution curves were parallel in the AHS and VHS group (rate of change, -0.53 and -0.52 D/yr, respectively), while the curves slowly separated and flattens after 15 years in the VHS group (rate of change, -0.22 and -0.14 D/yr, respectively). The change trend of AL was similar. Three-year cumulative incidence of myopia was 47/133 (35.3%) in the AHS versus 14/95 (14.7%) in the VHS group (P<0.001), and that of high myopia was 31/547 (5.7%) and 9/273 (3.3%) (P=0.129), respectively.
Conclusions :
Terminating academic high school education can reduce myopia progression and high myopia incidence in Chinese adolescents.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.