Three optical intervention methods for low myopia control in children: a one-year follow-up study

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Pediatric Optometry
• Myopia Management

Background:

• Myopia is a growing public health concern in children.
• Effective myopia control strategies are crucial to prevent high myopia and associated ocular pathologies.
• Optical interventions like single vision lenses (SVL), high aspherical lenticule (HAL) lenses, and orthokeratology (OK) lenses are used for myopia prevention and control.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the one-year efficacy of three optical interventions for myopia prevention and control in children with low myopia.
• To evaluate the axial length (AL) growth control rates of HAL and OK lenses in comparison to SVL.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 150 children (aged 7-13 years) with low myopia was divided into three groups: SVL (n=50), HAL (n=50), and OK lens (n=50).
• Baseline characteristics including axial length (AL) and spherical equivalent refractive error (SER) were recorded.
• Axial length growth and growth control rates were assessed over one year, with SVL as the reference group.

Main Results:

• No significant baseline differences were observed among the three groups (p > 0.05).
• One-year AL growth rates were significantly lower in the HAL group (0.163 mm) and OK lens group (0.280 mm) compared to the SVL group (0.516 mm) (p < 0.05).
• The HAL group showed a significantly higher AL growth control rate (68.41%) than the OK lens group (45.74%) (p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• Both HAL and OK lenses are more effective than SVL in controlling axial length growth in children with low myopia.
• HAL lenses may offer superior outcomes for myopia prevention and control compared to OK lenses.
• Further randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm the superior efficacy of HAL lenses.