Incidence of myopia in a population of Finnish school children

Abstract

Vision defects due to myopia typically appear during the school years. The comprehensive surveillance system of vision impairments in school children (ages 7 to 15 years) in the township of Kuopio, Finland (pop. 74 200) offers an opportunity to study the incidence of school myopia. In the school year 1980-81 out of 9635 school children 1383 (14%) had eye problems and were referred to the Community Health Center ophthalmologist (the author) for examination. Of the children who came for the first time to an eye examination 252 were found myopic. This gives an incidence of 2.6% per year. The incidence in different age groups as well as for boys and girls was calculated. From the cumulative prevalences it was estimated that about 23% of the school children would be myopic at the age of 15 years.