New cases of myopia in children.
OBJECTIVE
To report the percentage of new cases of myopia in 4927 children aged 5 to 16 years who participated in the Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Ethnicity and Refractive Error Study between 1989 and 2009.


METHODS
A multicenter, longitudinal, observational, volunteer study of refractive error and ocular development in children from 5 racial/ethnic groups in which the participants were children who were not myopic (right eye cycloplegic auto refraction of less myopia/more hyperopia than -0.75 diopters [D] in both principal meridians) at study entry. A new case was a diagnosis of myopia (right eye cycloplegic auto refraction of -0.75 D or more myopia in both principal meridians) after study entry.


RESULTS
Of the 4556 children entering the study who were not myopic, 749 (16.4%) received a diagnosis of myopia after study entry. Among these 749 children, the ages of the participants at diagnosis varied from 7 to 16 years, with the largest number diagnosed at age 11 years(136 participants [18.2%]). New cases of myopia occurred in 27.3% of Asians, 21.4% of Hispanics, 14.5% of Native Americans, 13.9% of African Americans, and 11% of whites. Female participants had more new cases than did male participants (18.5% vs 14.5%). Normal-birth weight children had more new cases than did low-birth weight children (16.9% vs 15.5%).


CONCLUSIONS
Sixteen percent of children enrolled in the Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Ethnicity and Refractive Error Study developed myopia during their school-aged years. The percentage increased yearly until age 11 years, after which it decreased. New cases of myopia varied by ethnic/racial group.
School of Optometry, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA.
Robert N
RN
Kleinstein
Loraine T
LT
Sinnott
Lisa A
LA
Jones-Jordan
Janene
J
Sims
Karla
K
Zadnik
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D017668:Age of Onset; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009216:Myopia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D015995:Prevalence; D044469:Racial Groups; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology