TY - JOUR

T1 - Myopia prevalence in Denmark

T2 - a review of 140 years of myopia research

AU - Hansen, Mathias Hvidtfeldt

AU - Hvid-Hansen, Anders

AU - Jacobsen, Nina

AU - Kessel, Line

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Purpose: To evaluate potential changes in myopia prevalence in Denmark by revising more than 100 years of myopia research. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in the PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases. Only studies reporting a myopia prevalence in Denmark were included. Myopia was defined using the definition in individual references. We did not restrict inclusion of studies to specific methods of measuring or evaluating refraction. As refraction changes throughout life, information from available studies was divided in relevant age groups. Chi-squared test was used when analysing the effect of sex and education on myopia prevalence except when the expected values were beneath 5, where Fisher’s exact test was used. To further compare the effect of sex, we calculated the odds ratio of being myopic for females compared to males. Results: We identified 29 Danish studies reporting on prevalence of myopia. The studies were performed between year 1882 and 2018. We found no strong evidence of an increase in myopia prevalence in Denmark. Increasing age was associated with an increased myopia prevalence up to the age of 60 years where after the prevalence decreased. Longer education and more intensive educational load were associated with myopia. Fourteen studies compared the prevalence of myopia between males and females and two of these studies found a significant higher prevalence in females. Conclusion: We evaluated nearly 140 years of myopia research in Denmark and did not find a convincing change in prevalence of myopia which is in contrast to the high prevalence of myopia reported in some parts of the world and the expected rise in myopia as predicted by WHO.

AB - Purpose: To evaluate potential changes in myopia prevalence in Denmark by revising more than 100 years of myopia research. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in the PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases. Only studies reporting a myopia prevalence in Denmark were included. Myopia was defined using the definition in individual references. We did not restrict inclusion of studies to specific methods of measuring or evaluating refraction. As refraction changes throughout life, information from available studies was divided in relevant age groups. Chi-squared test was used when analysing the effect of sex and education on myopia prevalence except when the expected values were beneath 5, where Fisher’s exact test was used. To further compare the effect of sex, we calculated the odds ratio of being myopic for females compared to males. Results: We identified 29 Danish studies reporting on prevalence of myopia. The studies were performed between year 1882 and 2018. We found no strong evidence of an increase in myopia prevalence in Denmark. Increasing age was associated with an increased myopia prevalence up to the age of 60 years where after the prevalence decreased. Longer education and more intensive educational load were associated with myopia. Fourteen studies compared the prevalence of myopia between males and females and two of these studies found a significant higher prevalence in females. Conclusion: We evaluated nearly 140 years of myopia research in Denmark and did not find a convincing change in prevalence of myopia which is in contrast to the high prevalence of myopia reported in some parts of the world and the expected rise in myopia as predicted by WHO.

KW - education

KW - high myopia

KW - myopia

KW - pathological myopia

KW - prevalence

KW - prevention

KW - time outdoors

U2 - 10.1111/aos.14562

DO - 10.1111/aos.14562

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 32767542

AN - SCOPUS:85089093506

VL - 99

SP - 118

EP - 127

JO - Acta Ophthalmologica

JF - Acta Ophthalmologica

SN - 1755-375X

IS - 2

ER -