ArticleOphthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists)2025
Increasing myopia in Scotland at age of 3.5-5.5 years: A retrospective epidemiological study.
Article in Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Binocular Vision Anomalies in Scotland at Age 3.5-5.5 Years: An Epidemiological Study.Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) · 2026Article
- The role of astigmatism in myopia development, myopia progression and myopia control.Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) · 2025Review
- IMI-2025 Digest.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2025Article
- Increasing myopia in Scotland at age of 3.5-5.5 years: A retrospective epidemiological study.Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeScotland has comprehensive child vision screening at age 3.5-5.5 years of age, with ~85% participation (40,000-50,000 screening episodes annually). Orthoptists deliver the screening, including presenting vision, cover test and other tests. Screening failures are referred for eye examinations, including cycloplegic refraction. The study aims to report refractive error data from these examinations (~5000-6000 annually) for 3 years before and 2 years following the COVID-19 pandemic, and to investigate correlations between myopia and socio-economic factors.
methodsRight eye data from eight Scottish health boards (HB) are reported for spherical equivalent refraction (SER) for the years 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2020-21 and 2021-22. Associations were investigated between the proportion of the sample in each HB with myopia and the proportion of the population in each HB with different levels of deprivation index, classification on a rural/urban continuum and dwelling type.
resultsRefractive error frequency distributions revealed a myopic shift in SER over the 5 years. Median SER (interquartile range) in 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2020-21 and 2021-22 was +1.38 D (+0.50 to +2.75), +1.38 D (+0.25 to +2.63), +1.38 D (+0.50 to +2.75), +1.13 D (+0.25 to +2.25) and +1.25 D (+0.38 to +2.25), respectively. The increase in myopia was statistically significant in each of the last 2 years compared with each of the first 3 years (p < 0.0005). The proportion of myopes (≤-0.50 D) increased from <7.8% annually in 2013-16 to 11.51% in 2020-21 and 10.65% in 2021-22 (linear trend: r
conclusionsIn this predominantly Caucasian population, the proportion of children with myopia has increased post-COVID. A strong association exists between myopia and living in flats/apartments and urbanicity, but not with a deprivation index.
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