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Rapid progression of myopia at onset during home confinement

2022; Elsevier BV; Volume: 26; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.jaapos.2021.11.014

1528-3933

Carolina Picotti, Victoria Sánchez, Leonardo Fernández Irigaray, Alejandra Iurescia, Rafael Iribarren,

Retinal Diseases and Treatments

To determine whether the myopic shift at myopia onset was faster than usual during home confinement associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.Data on refractive error in consecutive children who presented for their first myopic spectacle prescription from September 2020 to May 2021 (new-onset myopia during the pandemic) were collected. Inclusion criteria were age 5-18 years and cycloplegic spherical equivalent in both eyes in the emmetropic range in the pre-pandemic years as recorded 1 year and 2 years before the actual visit. Annualized mean myopic shifts over the two previous periods were calculated.A total of 39 subjects (59% girls) were enrolled. Mean age at the visit after confinement was 10.79 ± 2.83 years. The mean refractive error for the right eyes in 2018 was +0.29 ± 0.56 D. The year after (2019), these children had a mean spherical equivalent of -0.12 ± 0.70 D. At the enrollment visit after myopia onset in the pandemic period, they had myopia of -1.33 ± 0.73 D. The mean annualized myopic shift for the right eyes was -0.37 ± 0.43 D before the pandemic and -1.12 ± 0.70 D during the pandemic period that included home confinement (P < 0·001 [Wilcoxon text]).Previous pre-pandemic prospective studies have reported myopic shift at onset of approximately -0.80 D. The period of strict pandemic home confinement saw higher rates of myopic shift.