Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Aug 29:12:1581-1587.
doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S164641. eCollection 2018.

Myopia prevalence and risk factors in children

Christos Theophanous  1 , Bobeck S Modjtahedi  2   3 , Michael Batech  4 , David S Marlin  1 , Tiffany Q Luong  4 , Donald S Fong  2   3   4
Affiliations

Myopia prevalence and risk factors in children

Christos Theophanous et al. Clin Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the prevalence and risk factors for pediatric myopia in a contemporary American cohort.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of pediatric patients enrolled in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health plan was done. Eligible patients were 5- to 19-years old between January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2013, and received an ophthalmologic or optometric refraction. Electronic medical records were reviewed for demographic data, refraction results, and exercise data. Prevalence and relative risks of myopia (defined as ≤-1.0 diopter) were characterized. Age, sex, race/ethnicity, median neighborhood income, and minutes of exercise per day were examined as risk factors.

Results: There were 60,789 patients who met the inclusion criteria, of which 41.9% had myopia. Myopia was more common in older children (14.8% in 5- to 7-year olds, 59.0% in 17- to 19-year olds). Asian/Pacific Islander patients (OR 1.64, CI 1.58-1.70) had an increased rate of myopia compared to White patients as did African Americans to a lesser extent (OR 1.08, CI 1.03-1.13). Median neighborhood household income of $25,000-40,000 was associated with lower rates of myopia (OR 0.90, CI 0.83-0.97) compared to median neighborhood household incomes less than $25,000. Having at least 60 min of daily exercise was associated with lower prevalence of myopia (OR 0.87, CI 0.85-0.89).

Discussion: Myopia was common in this large and diverse Southern Californian pediatric cohort. The prevalence of myopia increases with age. Asian children are at highest risk for myopia. Exercise is associated with a lower rate of myopia and represents an important potentially modifiable risk factor that may be a target for future public health efforts.

Keywords: children; epidemiology; exercise; myopia; pediatrics; prevalence; public health; refractive error.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure Donald S Fong has received grants from Allergan, ThromboGenics, Regeneron, and Nightstar. The other authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study population selection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chua J, Wong TY. Myopia-the silent epidemic that should not be ignored. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2016;134(12):1363–1364. - PubMed
    1. Holden BA, Fricke TR, Wilson DA, et al. Global prevalence of myopia and high myopia and temporal trends from 2000 through 2050. Ophthalmology. 2016;123(5):1036–1042. - PubMed
    1. Rudnicka AR, Kapetanakis VV, Wathern AK, et al. Global variations and time trends in the prevalence of childhood myopia, a systematic review and quantitative meta-analysis: implications for aetiology and early prevention. Br J Ophthalmol. 2016;100(7):882–890. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bourne RR, Stevens GA, White RA, et al. Causes of vision loss worldwide, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis. Lancet Glob Health. 2013;1(6):e339–e349. - PubMed
    1. Fricke TR, Holden BA, Wilson DA, et al. Global cost of correcting vision impairment from uncorrected refractive error. Bull World Health Organ. 2012;90(10):728–738. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources