Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 24 July 2017 by Stefanie Petrou Binder, MD, EyeWorld Contributing Writer TV for mean 1.35 ± 0.14 hours per day while the control group spent 1.29 ± 0.15 hours per day (P=.893) watching TV. Computer time among the individuals in the myopic group was mean 2.07 ± 0.14 hours per day compared to 2.36 ± 0.26 hours per day in controls (P=.962). The myopic children did school work for 1.66 ± 0.19 hours per day, which in the control group was reported at 1.87 ± 0.11 hours per day (P=.039). The myopic group did additional reading for 2.7 ± 0.4 hours per week, while controls did 2.31 ± 0.4 hours of additional reading (P=.964). Factors at play "Myopic change is becoming a global public health problem that is associated with high costs for correction and for the treatment of complications such as myopic mac- ular degeneration, retinal detach- ment, glaucoma, and cataract," Dr. Sakiene said. Recent studies concur with what Dr. Sakiene sees as the challenge that we face to get behind the dramatic increase in myopia reported in the last 20 years. One study that called myopia "an underrated global chal- lenge to vision" reported a reduced age of onset of myopia with all the attendant risks of debilitating eye conditions. The authors discussed an increased economic burden for myopic corrections as well as the consequences of uncorrected refractive error on the individual's loss of productivity and indepen- dence. They said that pharmacologic measures were successful to reduce the rate of myopic progression up to 66% in compliant children, while early contact lens applications slowed progression by 40%. 1 Among the environmental factors thought to affect myopia progression, daily activities such as near work and outdoor activity are generally thought to be key factors associated with myopic onset and/ or its progression. Time spent doing near work has frequently been associated with myopia, but not conclusively. According to a popu- lation-based study that investigated myopia in 16,771 children with a mean age of 13 years, the factors associated with myopia in school children were female gender, school type, parental myopia, higher socio- economic background, dim reading computer games, as well as the time spent doing outdoor activities, per day and per week. The myopic and control children were matched by age and gender. The 47 myopic patients were comprised of 26 male (55%) and 21 female (45%) patients with a median age of 14 years. The 40 control patients were made up of 17 male (42.5%) and 23 females (45.5%) patients with a median age of 14.5 years. There were no significant dif- ferences between the groups. Myopic children spent more time on a daily and weekly basis doing outdoor activities than their control counterparts. Myopic study participants spent 2.38 ± 0.22 hours outdoors per day compared to 2.04 ± 0.2 hours in the controls (P=.27), and the myopic children reported doing sports for mean 5.46 ± 0.44 hours per week, compared to the control children whose sports activ- ities averaged 5.05 ± 0.6 (P=.18) per week. Near activity times showed mixed tendencies among the two groups. The myopic group watched the influence these had on myopic refractive change. Non-myopic children read more "In our experience, non-myopic children with healthy eyes between the ages of 10 and 18 years that we studied as part of an investigation to determine the influence of near work and outdoor time on myopic refractive change spent more time preparing for lessons and doing indoor activities than myopic chil- dren, which was statistically signif- icant (P=.039)," Dr. Sakiene said. "Our results showed that near work activities did not increase myopia." In the study that she conducted at the LSMU KK Eye Hospital and Children's Polyclinic, Dr. Sakiene distributed questionnaires to 47 myopic children and 40 ophthalmo- logically healthy children between the ages of 10 and 18 years, exclud- ing individuals with other refractive errors or eye disorders. The ques- tionnaire examined the amount of time spent by the study participants engaged in near work activities such as school work, reading books, and A new study says they do not T he prevalence of myopia is increasing worldwide. The medical literature is awash with studies seeking to un- derstand the circumstances that contribute to the increased de- velopment of myopia and determine the role played by genetics and that of the time spent engaged in indoor as opposed to outdoor activities in childhood. High myopia is a risk factor for such pathologies as retinal detachment, glaucoma, early-onset cataracts, and blindness, and as such needs to be addressed as a major public health concern. In a presentation at the 21st Winter Meeting of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) in Maastricht, Holland, researcher Ruta Sakiene MD, Department of Ophthalmology, Lithuanian University of Health Sci- ences, Medicine Academy (LSMU), Kaunas, Lithuania, analyzed the indoor and outdoor habits of myo- pic and non-myopic children and Do near work activities matter in myopia development? Presentation spotlight

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