Identifying those at risk of high myopia: estimated 20% of total

With the hope of preventing the vision and eye probls that can result from high myopia (defined by the group as 5.75 D), Sydney researchers from the Brien Holden Vision Institute set out to identify those at greatest risk.
Their research was presented by Dr Monica Jong, the institute’s science and business development manager, at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting in Orlando, Florida in early May.
Currently, myopia affects up to 1.45 billion people worldwide but that figure is estimated to balloon to about 2.5 billion by 2020. Early identification of those at risk of progressing to a high refractive error will allow practitioners to intervene with strategies aimed at slowing the rate of progress so as to reduce the risk of the more serious sequelae of high myopia such as macular degeneration and retinal detachment.
Dr Jong estimated that up to 20% of myopes achieve or exceed their definition of ‘high’ myopia.
She said: “By identifying children who are at a greater risk of developing high myopia earlier on in life, clinicians can suggest suitable preventative strategies such as reduced near work, more time spent outdoors, and myopia-control eyewear that may help reduce myopic progression”.
The research compared the characteristics of myopia progression in two groups of children: those who became highly myopic and those whose error rained low.
Dr Jong said: “My study investigated whether those who become highly myopic have faster rates of myopia progression between the ages of seven and 13 years of age. We found that those children with high myopia had higher levels of myopia at an earlier age and were progressing at a much faster rate than the children with low myopia. Even at 13 years of age, they were still progressing at a significant rate which is a worry when we consider the duration and intensity of education nowadays”.
She suggested that children progressing at a rate greater than one dioptre per year needed some sort of intervention to head-off the known issues.
In answer to the common question, Are we there yet?, it would se that the answer is no, and furthermore, we probably have a considerable way to go before the myopia ‘probl’ is reigned in. Research is ongoing.