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Astigmatism progression in Asian children affected by myopia, ethnicity, study finds
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There was little progression of astigmatism in Asian school-age children over the course of a 4-year study, but some incident cases of astigmatism were seen, the study authors said. The progression of astigmatism was affected by ethnicity, the presence of myopia, and the subtype of astigmatism, the study found.
Louis Tong and colleagues at the Singapore National Eye Center studied children between the ages of 7 and 9 years at baseline over the course of 4 years. The children were of Chinese, Malay and Asian Indian ethnicity.
The cumulative 3-year incidence rate of astigmatism was 33.6% for cylinder power of 0.5 D or more, and 11.5% for cylinder power of 1 D or more. Children with myopia had a higher incidence rate of astigmatism than children without myopia. Girls had a higher rate of astigmatic progression than boys. The higher the child’s myopia at baseline and the higher the number of hours of computer use, the greater was the rate of progression.
The study is published in the November issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Vision Science.