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Refractive errors in students from Middle Eastern backgrounds living and undertaking schooling in Australia
Serap Azizoglu1, Barbara M Junghans, Ayla Barutchu
1School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.
Clinical & Experimental Optometry
|January 5, 2011
Summary
This study found that second-generation Middle Eastern Australian children have a lower prevalence of myopia than in their ancestral Middle East, but higher than other Australian children. These findings suggest lifestyle and education significantly influence myopia progression.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Rising myopia prevalence globally linked to environmental factors in schooling systems.
- Investigating refractive error prevalence in migrant populations is crucial for understanding these trends.
- This study focuses on Middle Eastern children in Australia, a group with generally low myopia in their region of origin.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the prevalence of refractive errors in Middle Eastern children residing in urban Australia.
- To compare these refractive error rates with those typically found in the Middle East.
- To explore potential environmental influences on myopia development in a migrant population.
Main Methods:
- Assessed refractive error and visual acuity in 354 late primary/early secondary schoolchildren of Middle Eastern descent in Melbourne.
- Utilized a Shin Nippon open-field NVision-K5001 autorefractor for non-cycloplegic autorefraction.
- Analyzed data by dividing students into three age groups: 10-11, 12-13, and 14-15 years.
Main Results:
- The prevalence of myopia (spherical equivalent refraction ≤ -0.50 D) was 14.7%.
- The prevalence of hyperopia (spherical equivalent refraction ≥ +0.75 D) was 16.4%.
- A significant difference in spherical equivalent refraction was observed with age, but not gender.
Conclusions:
- This is the first study on refractive errors in second-generation Australian schoolchildren of Middle Eastern background maintaining ethnic ties.
- The observed myopia prevalence is lower than in the Middle East but higher than in other Australian children.
- Findings suggest that lifestyle and educational practices significantly influence the progression of myopic refractive errors.
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