Myopic maculopathy progression occurs in 1 of 8 youths

Among young people with high myopia, roughly 12 percent have myopic maculopathy progression over a period of 4 years, as shown in a study.

For the study, researchers looked at 548 high myopic eyes (spherical power −6.00 dioptres or less) of 274 participants (50.4 percent girls) between 7 and 17 years of age. All participants underwent comprehensive ophthalmic examination at baseline and at the 4-year follow-up. Myopic maculopathy was defined using the International Photographic Classification and Grading System.

During the follow-up, progression of myopic maculopathy was seen in 67 of 548 eyes (12.2 percent). A total of 88 lesion changes occurred, such as new signs of the tessellated fundus in 16 eyes (18.2 percent), diffuse atrophy in 12 eyes (13.6 percent), patchy atrophy in two eyes (2.3 percent), lacquer cracks in nine eyes (10.2 percent), and enlargement of diffuse atrophy in 49 eyes (55.7 percent).

Myopic maculopathy progression showed a positive association with worse best-corrected visual acuity (odds ratio [OR], 6.68, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.15–38.99; p=0.04), longer axial length (AL) (OR, 1.73, 95 percent CI, 1.34–2.24; p<0.001), shorter time to AL elongation (OR, 302.83, 95 percent CI, 28.61–3205.64; p<0.001), and more severe myopic maculopathy (diffuse atrophy: OR, 4.52, 95 percent CI, 1.98–10.30, p<0.001; patchy atrophy: OR, 3.82, 95 percent CI, 1.66–8.80; p=0.002).

The findings underscore the importance of monitoring children with high myopia and identifying those at higher risk of progression.