Distribution of Refractive Errors among Healthy Infants and Young Children between the Age of 6 to 36 Months in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia—A Pilot Study

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Abstract

Uncorrected refractive error, especially myopia, in young children can cause permanent visual impairment in later life. However, data on the normative development of refractive error in this age group is limited, especially in Malaysia. The aim of this study was to determine the distribution of refractive error in a sample of infants and young children between the ages of 6 to 36 months in a prospective, cross-sectional study. Cycloplegic retinoscopy was conducted on both eyes of 151 children of mean age 18.09 ± 7.95 months. Mean spherical equivalent refractive error for the right and left eyes was +0.85 ± 0.97D and +0.86 ± 0.98D, respectively. The highest prevalence of refractive error was astigmatism (26%), followed by hyperopia (12.7%), myopia (1.3%) and anisometropia (0.7%). There was a reduction of hyperopic refractive error with increasing age. Myopia was seen to emerge at age 24 months. In conclusion, the prevalence of astigmatism and hyperopia in infants and young children was high, but that of myopia and anisometropia was low. There was a significant reduction in hyperopic refractive error towards emmetropia with increasing age. It is recommended that vision screening be conducted early to correct significant refractive error that may cause disruption to clear vision.

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Most cited references 24

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Refractive Error Study in Children: results from Shunyi District, China.

Jialiang Zhao, Xiangjun Pan, Ruifang Sui … (2000)

To assess the prevalence of refractive errors and vision impairment in school-age children in Shunyi District, northeast of Beijing, the Peoples Republic of China. Random selection of village-based clusters was used to identify a sample of children 5 to 15 years of age. Resident registration books were used to enumerate eligible children in the selected villages and identify their current school. Ophthalmic examinations were conducted in 132 schools on children from 29 clusters during May 1988 to July 1998, including visual acuity measurements, cycloplegic retinoscopy, cycloplegic autorefraction, ocular motility evaluation, and examination of the external eye, anterior segment, media, and fundus. Independent replicate measurements of all children with reduced vision and a sample of those with normal vision were done for quality assurance monitoring in three schools. A total of 6,134 children from 4,338 households were enumerated, and 5,884 children (95.9%) were examined. The prevalence of uncorrected, presenting, and best visual acuity 0.5 (20/40) or worse in at least one eye was 12.8%, 10.9%, and 1.8%, respectively; 0.4% had best visual acuity 0.5 or worse in both eyes. Refractive error was the cause in 89.5% of the 1,236 eyes with reduced vision, amblyopia in 5%, other causes in 1.5%, with unexplained causes in the remaining 4%. Myopia -0.5 diopter or less in either eye was essentially absent in 5-year-old children, but increased to 36.7% in males and 55.0% in females by age 15. Over this same age range, hyperopia 2 diopters or greater decreased from 8.8% in males and 19.6% in females to less than 2% in both. Females had a significantly higher risk of both myopia and hyperopia. Reduced vision because of myopia is an important public health problem in school-age children in Shunyi District. More than 9% of children could benefit from prescription glasses. Further studies are needed to determine whether the upward trend in the prevalence of myopia continues far beyond age 15 and whether the development of myopia is changing for more recent birth cohorts.

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Global and regional estimates of prevalence of refractive errors: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Hassan Hashemi, Akbar Fotouhi, AbbasAli YEKTA … (2017)

Purpose The aim of the study was a systematic review of refractive errors across the world according to the WHO regions. Methods To extract articles on the prevalence of refractive errors for this meta-analysis, international databases were searched from 1990 to 2016. The results of the retrieved studies were merged using a random effect model and reported as estimated pool prevalence (EPP) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results In children, the EPP of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism was 11.7% (95% CI: 10.5–13.0), 4.6% (95% CI: 3.9–5.2), and 14.9% (95% CI: 12.7–17.1), respectively. The EPP of myopia ranged from 4.9% (95% CI: 1.6–8.1) in South–East Asia to 18.2% (95% CI: 10.9–25.5) in the Western Pacific region, the EPP of hyperopia ranged from 2.2% (95% CI: 1.2–3.3) in South-East Asia to 14.3% (95% CI: 13.4–15.2) in the Americas, and the EPP of astigmatism ranged from 9.8% in South-East Asia to 27.2% in the Americas. In adults, the EPP of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism was 26.5% (95% CI: 23.4–29.6), 30.9% (95% CI: 26.2–35.6), and 40.4% (95% CI: 34.3–46.6), respectively. The EPP of myopia ranged from 16.2% (95% CI: 15.6–16.8) in the Americas to 32.9% (95% CI: 25.1–40.7) in South-East Asia, the EPP of hyperopia ranged from 23.1% (95% CI: 6.1%–40.2%) in Europe to 38.6% (95% CI: 22.4–54.8) in Africa and 37.2% (95% CI: 25.3–49) in the Americas, and the EPP of astigmatism ranged from 11.4% (95% CI: 2.1–20.7) in Africa to 45.6% (95% CI: 44.1–47.1) in the Americas and 44.8% (95% CI: 36.6–53.1) in South-East Asia. The results of meta-regression showed that the prevalence of myopia increased from 1993 (10.4%) to 2016 (34.2%) (P = 0.097). Conclusion This report showed that astigmatism was the most common refractive errors in children and adults followed by hyperopia and myopia. The highest prevalence of myopia and astigmatism was seen in South-East Asian adults. The highest prevalence of hyperopia in children and adults was seen in the Americas.

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Amblyopia.

Jonathan M. Holmes, Michael Clarke (2006)

Results from recent randomised clinical trials in amblyopia should change our approach to screening for and treatment of amblyopia. Based on the current evidence, if one screening session is used, screening at school entry could be the most reasonable time. Clinicians should preferably use age-appropriate LogMAR acuity tests, and treatment should only be considered for children who are clearly not in the typical range for their age. Any substantial refractive error should be corrected before further treatment is considered and the child should be followed in spectacles until no further improvement is recorded, which can take up to 6 months. Parents and carers should then be offered an informed choice between patching and atropine drops. Successful patching regimens can last as little as 1 h or 2 h a day, and successful atropine regimens as little as one drop twice a week. Intense and extended regimens might not be needed in initial therapy.

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Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Int J Environ Res Public Health

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Int J Environ Res Public Health

Journal ID (publisher-id): ijerph

Title: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Publisher: MDPI

ISSN (Print): 1661-7827

ISSN (Electronic): 1660-4601

Publication date (Electronic): 27 November 2019

Publication date (Print): December 2019

Volume: 16

Issue: 23

Electronic Location Identifier: 4730

Affiliations

[1 ]Optometry & Vision Science Programme, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, Kuala Lumpur 50200, Malaysia; arifahnur@ 123456yahoo.com (A.N.Y.); drsaadah@ 123456ukm.edu.my (S.M.A.)

[2 ]Ophthalmology Department, Hospital Queen Elizabeth, Karung Berkunci No. 2029, Kota Kinabalu 88586, Sabah, Malaysia

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[* ]Correspondence: sharanjeet@ 123456ukm.edu.my

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Publisher ID: ijerph-16-04730

DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16234730

PMC ID: 6926593

PubMed ID: 31783494

SO-VID: dff16e20-1e63-407b-ac96-111b543652f3

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Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Distribution of Refractive Errors among Healthy Infants and Young Children between the Age of 6 to 36 Months in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia—A Pilot Study

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Chinese Journal of School Health

Most cited references 24

Refractive Error Study in Children: results from Shunyi District, China.

Global and regional estimates of prevalence of refractive errors: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Amblyopia.

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