Research
Prediction of Juvenile-Onset Myopia
Myopia (nearsightedness) has its onset in childhood and affects about one-third of adults in the United States. Along with its high prevalence, myopia is expensive to correct and is associated with ocular diseases that include glaucoma and retinal detachment.
The objective of this study is to determine the best set of predictors for myopia onset in school-aged children.
The study was conducted among 4512 ethnically diverse, nonmyopic school-aged children from grades 1 through 8 from 5 clinical sites. It evaluated 13 candidate risk factors for their ability to predict the onset of myopia.
The study concluded that future of myopia can be predicted in a nonmyopic child using a simple, single measure of refractive error. Future trials for prevention of myopia should target the child with low hyperopia as the child at risk.