Low prevalence of myopia in children from the Andean region in Ecuador

Abstract

Purpose: The prevalence of myopia has been increasing in young people in East and South East Asian urban environments. It has been predicted that by 2050 half of the world population will be myopic, and of those, 10% will suffer from high myopia. The prevalence of myopia in Latin America, which holds 1/10th of the world population, has been scarcely studied. The present study reports on the prevalence of myopia among children living in Ecuador.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional population-based study conducted in 2001. The sample consisted of schoolchildren from the Andean region in Ecuador. The ocular examination was performed at schools by trained ophthalmologists. Children who did not reach a visual acuity of 10/10 in both eyes were submitted for cycloplegic refraction. Automated cycloplegic refractive error measurement and subjective refraction were performed. Myopia was considered as spherical equivalent refractive error <-0.50 dioptres.
Results: The study included 6,143 schoolchildren aged 8.54 ± 2.75 years. There was an extremely low prevalence of myopia (2.69%) and high myopia (0.16%) in the studied population.
Conclusion: Low prevalence of myopia and very low prevalence high myopia were found among children living in the Ecuadorean Andean region compared to Asian urban environments.

Key words: myopia, prevalence, Ecuador, Latin America.