This large cohort study analysed myopic prescriptions from 136,333 French children and teens. Factors influencing myopia progression were found to include a child’s age, gender and refraction of their first optical correction. Children aged 7-10yrs showed the fastest progression.
This cohort study from Australia reported a 14% incidence (onset) of myopia between ages 20 and 28, with almost 40% of myopes progressing by at least 0.50D. Axial length increase was also demonstrated. Risk factors were related to ethnicity, sex, sun exposure and parental myopia but not education level. This data advocates for active myopia management throughout the 20s.
Prediction modelling for future myopic progression was found to be more accurate when factors such as age, sex and ethnicity were considered, rather than prior progression. Myopia management should be initiated when myopia is apparent regardless of prior progression, rather than waiting to assess the progression rate.
The SCORM study analyzed the relationship between myopia progression a year after baseline and subsequent 2-year progression for myopic Singaporean children. Progression and age at baseline were found to be strongly associated with subsequent progression. However, they were shown to have limited predictive values and other factors are likely to determine future progression.
This study investigated the accuracy of using pre-treatment axial elongation and changes in refractive sphere in predicting myopia control success in orthokeratology. Axial length was the more accurate method for categorisation of slow, moderate or rapid progression, and fast progressors benefited the most from ortho-k wear.
The axial length growth trajectories modelled in this study revealed that regardless of a child’s age, a myopic shift of at least -0.85D and/or 0.74mm over three years suggests future myopia development. Read more about specific risk factors for younger children, and other ocular component findings in this large study of European children.
This cross-over study investigated children wearing highly aspherical lenslet (HAL) spectacle lenses versus single vision spectacles over three six-month periods. The HAL lenses showed consistent myopia control efficacy and no rebound effect when discontinued over one of the six-month periods.
Nightly use of atropine 0.01% was able to reduce myopia progression and axial elongation for Chinese children over 9 months. However, this study also found that refractive astigmatism may increase within the first 3 months of treatment as a result.
Teenagers in the Netherlands were able to spend time outdoors during the COVID pandemic but still significantly increased near work on digital devices.. This is expected to give an increase in myopia prevalence and progression in European teens but to a lesser extent than in Asia where there was restricted outdoor time with stricter lockdown.
This is the first meta-analysis to directly compare mean axial growth across studies, looking at how age and ethnicity contribute to differences. Current axial length growth charts differentiate by sex and ethnicity, with age being the key variable. The results indicate that mean annual axial length growth is 28% greater in Asian compared to non-Asian children., reaffirming the need for Asian-specific data.
