The impact of severity of parental myopia on myopia in Chinese children
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Updated: May 2, 2026
Inducement and Evaluation of a Murine Model of Experimental Myopia
Published on: January 22, 2019
Fan Xiang1, Mingguang He, Ian G Morgan
1State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, PR China.
Insights
Parental myopia severity significantly increases myopia risk in children. However, environmental factors also play a crucial role in the development of high myopia, even when parents have no reported myopia.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Genetics
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Myopia is a growing public health concern globally.
- Understanding genetic and environmental influences on myopia development is critical for early intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between the severity of parental myopia and myopia prevalence in Chinese children.
- To explore the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to high myopia in pediatric populations.
Main Methods:
- Population-based study in Guangzhou involving 1567 children aged 12-15 years.
- Myopia defined as spherical equivalent refraction ≤0.5 D via cycloplegic autorefraction.
- Parental myopia severity classified as mild, moderate, or high based on parental reports.
Main Results:
- Children with more severe parental myopia exhibited higher myopia prevalence.
- Prevalence of myopia increased from 53.5% (no parental myopia) to 80.6% (high parental myopia).
- High myopia prevalence in children rose from 1.4% to 16.1% with increasing parental myopia severity.
Conclusions:
- Parental myopia severity is a significant risk factor for myopia in children.
- A substantial proportion of highly myopic children had parents with no or mild myopia, indicating environmental influences.
- Both genetic predisposition and environmental factors likely contribute to high myopia development in Chinese children.
Purpose:
To assess the impact of severity of parental myopia on myopia in Chinese children.
Methods:
Children aged 12 to 15 years were identified from a population-based sample in Guangzhou. Children's myopia was defined as a spherical equivalent refraction of ≤0.5 D based on cycloplegic (1% cyclopentolate) autorefraction. Using a questionnaire reported by the parents, the parental myopia was confirmed and the severity of myopia on the right eyes was classified into mild (<3.0 D myopia), moderate (3.0 to 6.0 D myopia), and high (>6.0 D myopia) myopia.
Results:
Information was available for 1567 children aged 12 to 15 years. Analysis was restricted to children with no myopia in one parent and no, mild, moderate, or high myopia in the other. The prevalence of myopia in children was 53.5, 65.1, 76.3, and 80.6% when the severity of myopia in the second parent was no, mild, moderate, and high, and the prevalence of high myopia (spherical equivalent >6.0 D myopia) in children was 1.4, 2.9, 8.5, and 16.1% in the corresponding groups of parental myopia severity. Of the children with high myopia, 45.3% had parents with no reported myopia.
Conclusions:
More severe myopia in one parent results in an increased risk of myopia in the children. However, most highly myopic children did not have a highly myopic parent and also half did not have any reported parental myopia. This suggests that while genetic factors contribute to the development of more severe myopia, environmental factors also contribute to high myopia in children in Guangzhou.
