Prevalence and risk factors of myopia in Victoria, Australia

Objective: To determine the prevalence and risk factors of myopia in urban and rural Victoria, Australia. Participants and Methods: The Visual Impairment Project is a population-bas ed prevalence study of eye disease in which both urban and rural adult popu lations were examined. Refractive data on the participants were collected u sing logMAR visual acuity, corrective lens measurement, and subjective refr action. All refractive error data were converted into spherical equivalent and myopia was defined at 2 levels: worse than -0.5 diopters (D) and worse than -1.00 D. Results: A total of 3271 (83%) urban and 1473 (91%) rural residents were ex amined. The overall prevalence of myopia worse than -0.50 D in the populati on was 17% (95% confidence limit = 15.8%, 18.0%). Prevalence of myopia decr eased from 24% in those aged 40 to 49 years to 12% in those aged 70 to 79 y ears, and then increased to 17% in people older than 80 years. The younger age groups also had higher usage of myopic corrective lenses throughout the ir lives than the older age groups, indicating an increased use of myopic c orrective lenses in recent times. Myopia was found to be significantly high er in people with higher education levels (chi(2) = 119.20, P < .001), in c lerks and professionals (chi(2) = 132.53, P < .001),in people born in south east Asia (chi(2) = 77.62, P < .001), and in people with higher degrees of nuclear opacity (chi(2) = 55.26, P < .001). Conclusion: Myopia rates in the Visual impairment Project generally decreas e with age and use of myopic correction has increased in recent times. Myop ia was significantly related to education level, occupation, country of bir th, and nuclear opacity.