Normative value of hyperopia reserve and myopic shift in Chinese children and adolescents aged 3–16 years

Abstract

BackgroundThis research aims to generate normative values of hyperopia reserve and refractive progression as effective tools to estimate the risk of myopia.MethodsA 1-year follow-up study was conducted among Chinese children and adolescents aged 3–16 years selected from schools and kinder gardens using cluster sampling. All participants underwent examinations including visual acuity, axial length and cycloplegic autorefraction (1% cyclopentolate). Percentiles of spherical equivalent (SE) were calculated using Lambda-Mu-Sigma (LMS) method. Age-specific refractive progression and hyperopia reserve were determined by backward calculation.ResultsOf 3118 participants, 1702 (54.6%) were boys with a mean baseline age of 7.30 years. The 50th percentile of SE estimated by LMS decreased from 1.04 D at 3 years to −2.04 D at 16 years in boys, while from 1.29 D to −2.81 D in girls. The 1-year refractive progression of myopes (0.81 D) was greater than that of non-myopes (0.51 D). The normative value of hyperopia reserve was 2.64 (range: 2.40 D–2.88 D) at 3 years and −0.35 (range: −0.50 to −0.17) D at 16 years, with the maximum progression of 0.35 D at the age of 6 years.ConclusionAge-specific normative values of hyperopia reserve and yearly myopic shift in children and adolescents aged 3–16 years were provided, helping identify and monitor myopia and giving prevention in advance.