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  • Myopia Incidence and Progression in Young Adults

    By Jean Shaw
    Selected and Reviewed by Neil M. Bressler, MD, and Deputy Editors
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    Journal Highlights

    JAMA Ophthalmology, February 2022

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    How common is myopia progression and onset during early adulthood? Lee et al. investigated this question in the Raine Study, which has followed a cohort of young adults in Western Australia since they were in utero, approximately 30 years ago. They found that myopia progression continues for more than one-third of adults during the third decade of life, albeit at lower rates than during childhood.

    For this analysis, the researchers conducted 20- and 28-year follow-up examinations from January 2010 to August 2012 and from March 2018 to March 2020, respectively. All told, 1,344 participants attended the first assess­ment, and 801 attended the second. After exclusion criteria were applied, 1,214 participants were included in the final incidence analysis. Refractive data from both follow-up exams were available for 691 of the 1,214; this in­formation was included in the progres­sion analysis. The main outcomes were incidence of myopia and high myopia and change in spherical equivalent (SE) and axial length (AL).

    The eight-year incidence of myopia and high myopia were 14% (95% confi­dence interval [CI], 11.5%-17.4%) and .7% (95% CI, .3-1.2%), respectively. A myopic shift of .5 D or more in at least one eye occurred in 261 participants (37.8%). Longitudinal changes were observed in SE (–.04 D/year), AL (.02/year), and lens thickness (.02 mm/year; all p < .001).

    After correcting for known risk fac­tors for myopia, the researchers found that rates of myopia progression and axial elongation were faster in female participants and in those with paren­tal myopia. Education level was not associated with myopia incidence or progression. Overall, East Asian partic­ipants had higher longitudinal rates of axial elongation and corneal flattening relative to White participants.

    The original article can be found here.