Prevalence of Refractive Error

Abstract

The January 2010 issue arrived in Alaska early February so I was anxious to read the 2 important prevalence reports on potentially amblyopiagenic hyperopia and anisometropia from the Multi-ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease Study (MEPEDS).1Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease Study GroupPrevalence of myopia and hyperopia in 6- to 72-month-old African American and Hispanic children: the multi-ethnic pediatric eye disease study.Ophthalmology. 2010; 117: 140-147Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (83) Google Scholar, 2Borchert M. Tarczy-Hornoch K. Cotter S.A. et al.MEPEDS GroupAnisometropia in Hispanic and African American infants and young children the multi-ethnic pediatric eye disease study.Ophthalmology. 2010; 117: 148-153Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (53) Google Scholar Developers of vision screening devices rely on a standard of target conditions plus an estimate of prevalence to validate current and emerging technology. The American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus has provided a thoughtful consensus report.3Donahue S. Arnold R. Ruben J.B. Preschool vision screening: What should we be detecting and how should we report it? Uniform guidelines for reporting results of preschool vision screening studies.J AAPOS. 2003; 7: 314-316Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (192) Google Scholar I believe these manufacturers utilize in an effort to compare “apples to apples.” It would be very helpful for the authors of MEPEDS simply to add 2 more simple statistics to their otherwise excellent report: (1) the prevalence of anisometropia (spherical or cylindrical) greater than 1.50 diopters; and (2) the prevalence of hyperopia greater than 3.50 diopters in any meridian in children 36-72 months of age. Prevalence of Myopia and Hyperopia in 6- to 72-Month-Old African American and Hispanic Children: The Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease StudyOphthalmologyVol. 117Issue 1PreviewTo determine the age-, gender-, and ethnicity-specific prevalence of myopia and hyperopia in African American and Hispanic children aged 6 to 72 months. Full-Text PDF Author replyOphthalmologyVol. 117Issue 8PreviewThe recent report from the Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease study group1 provides rigorous data regarding the prevalence of various refractive errors in preschool black and Hispanic children. The authors are to be congratulated for their large sample size and rigorous examination strategies, including using cycloplegia. The definition of refractive error chosen in this study, however, is bothersome. The authors define hyperopia as ≥+2.00 diopters (D) of spherical equivalent, and using this definition, they classify 26.9% of Hispanic children and 20.8% of black children as abnormal. Full-Text PDF Author replyOphthalmologyVol. 117Issue 8PreviewWe thank Dr. Arnold and Drs. Donahue and Baker for their comments. In this response we provide the additional data requested by Dr. Robert Arnold and respond to the comments made by Drs. Sean Donahue and John Baker regarding our paper. Full-Text PDF