Article for CME creditComponent dependent risk factors for ocular parameters in Singapore Chinese children☆
Section snippets
Materials and methods
Entry data are reported for school children from three different parts of the island enrolled in the cohort study in 1999 and 2001. All children in grades one and two aged 7 to 8 years in an Eastern school (n = 660) and those in grades one to three aged 7 to 9 years in a Northern school (n = 1023) were invited to join the study in November 1999, whereas children in grades one to three in a Western school (n = 1230) were recruited in May 2001. Children who had serious medical conditions (n = 94)
Results
There were 749 boys (51.5%) and 704 girls (48.5%), ranging in age from 7 to 9 years. The prevalence rates of myopia in 7-, 8-, and 9-year-olds were 29.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 25.5, 32.6), 34.7% (95% CI, 30.4, 39.0), and 53.1% (95% CI, 47.9, 58.4), respectively. The average AL was 23.3 mm (range, 21.4–27.2 mm), vitreous chamber depth was 16.2 mm (range, 14.5–19.8 mm), LT was 3.5 mm (range, 3.1–4.2 mm), corneal curvature radius was 7.7 mm (range, 7.2–8.6 mm), and refraction was +0.03 D
Discussion
In this study of young Singapore Chinese school children, several risk factors were associated with the different ocular component measurements. Although the myopic eye has a deeper anterior chamber and thinner lens, school myopia is predominantly axial in nature, and the primary contribution to increased AL is a deeper vitreous chamber. The deeper anterior chambers may reduce optically the effect of vitreous chamber deepening on myopia, perhaps as a result of an active emmetropization process.
References (26)
- et al.
New visual acuity charts for clinical research
Am J Ophthalmol
(1982) Nearwork and myopia
Lancet
(2000)- et al.
Refractive error study in childrenresults from Shunyi District, China
Am J Ophthalmol
(2000) - et al.
Myopiaan epidemic of possibilities?
Optom Vis Sci
(1999) - et al.
Epidemiology of myopia
Epidemiol Rev
(1996) - et al.
Local retinal regions control local eye growth and myopia
Science
(1987) - et al.
Ocular predictors of the onset of juvenile myopia
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci
(1999) - et al.
A longitudinal investigation of adult-onset and adult-progression of myopia in an occupational grouprefractive and biometric findings
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci
(1997) - et al.
Vitreous chamber elongation is responsible for myopia development in a young adult
Optom Vis Sci
(1996) - et al.
Changes in ocular refraction and its components among medical students—a 5-year longitudinal study
Optom Vis Sci
(1996)
Temporal variations in myopia progression in Singaporean children within an academic year
Optom Vis Sci
Refractive errors in Singapore and Xiamen, China—a comparative study in school children aged 6 to 7 years
Optom Vis Sci
Stat Statistical Software: Release 7.0
Cited by (200)
Genetic evidence for the onset and development of myopia
2023, Chinese Journal of Experimental Ophthalmology
- ☆
Supported by the National Medical Research Council (NMRC; grant no.: SERI/MG/97-04/0005), Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
- 1
Dr. Stone is the recipient of a Research to Prevent Blindness Physician-Scientist Merit Award.
- 2
The authors have no commercial interests in the products or devices mentioned herein.