Refraktionsstatus in einer deutschen pädiatrischen Kohorte: Eine Querschnittsanalyse der LIFE Child-Daten

Abstract

Purpose. Current prevalence rates of myopia in children and adolescents vary all over the world, with especially high prevalence rates in East Asian countries. The objective of this study was to describe the refractive status in children and adolescents growing up in Germany. Material and Methods. Non-cycloplegic refractive status of children of the LIFE Child study in Leipzig, Germany, was measured by wavefront-based autorefraction in 1934 sub- jects (925 girls / 1009 boys), aged 3 to 16 years (mean = 9.05 ± 3.91). Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent refractive error (SE) ≤ -0.75 diopters (D), emmetropia as -0.75 D > SE < +0.75 D, hyperopia as SE ≥ +0.75 D and astigmatism as cylinder ≤ -0.75 D. Anisometropia was defined as a difference of ≥ 1.0 D in the SE between the two eyes. Results. Analysis revealed that refractive error became more myopic with older age (b = -0.08, p < 0.001), with an observed prevalence of myopia of 27 % in 16-year-old children (4 % in 3-year-olds). The true prevalence of myopia might be lower as non-cycloplegic measurements might overestimate ref- ractive error in myopes and underestimate refractive error in hyperopes which in turn may overestimate the prevalence of myopia. The prevalence of anisometropia also increased with growing age (OR = 1.14, observed prevalence in 3- versus 16-year-olds = 2.3 % and 8.1 %, respectively). The prevalence of astigmatism was 11.8 %. Conclusion. Myopia prevalence in German children aged 3 to 16 years is around or even less than 10 %, taking into consideration that measurements were carried out without cycloplegia. Our results are comparable to other European paediatric studies. In comparison to East-Asian countries myopia prevalence, and thus the risk for eye diseases related to high myopia, is much lower in Germany. Keywords Myopia, prevalence, refraction, anisometropia, astigmatism, hyperopia