Study Review: Myopia Progression Rate and Age in Kids

Hi, I’m Dr. Michael Nelson, and myself and Dr. Selena Friesen are optometrists who see kids in Winnipeg.  One thing that we look for when we do a paediatric eye exam is for myopia.   Today I am looking at a study of the myopia progression rates in kids.

This study is a called Myopia progression varies with age and severity of myopia.

This is a huge retrospective study that looked at the progression rate of myopia in almost 7000 kids in India.

In the study it compares the progression of myopia based on age and it tells us that the normal progression under 15 is less than 1/2 diopter per year.  And the normal normal progression if you are older than 15 is less than 0.25 diopters.

This study looked at Indian children but it’s findings are similar to other studies that looked at caucasiaon childen in Australian, Europe and USA and asian chldren in China and Singapore.

Now one limiting factor in this study is that there is a lot of variability in their data but it is clear if you are under 15 and your myopia is increasing more than 0.5D per year..that is a significant change.

It also looked at what someone’s prescription is as an adult compared to when they first started to become myopic. Basically the earlier you first become myopic the higher degree of myopia. The take home here is that the kids less than 10 years old and especially those that develop myopia under five are both at high risk for becoming severely myopic. So if we are going to try to intervene and slow down myopia we want to start under the at of 10.

So here are 3 points that I am personally taking away from this study:
1.  As a paediatric optometrist in Winnipeg, if I see a child under the age 15 that is myopic and is progressing more than 0.50 diopter per year….I think we should consider some form of myopia control.
2.  As an optometrist who sees kids in Winnipeg if I see a kid under the age of 10 that has become myopic…that means they are at high risk for becoming a high myope (over -6) as an adult and I think you should strongly consider options of myopia management for them.
3.  This study emphasizes the importance of annual eye exams by an paediatric optometrist in Winnipeg near you starting well below the age of 5.

Michael Nelson, OD