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From the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, Wisconsin.
| Abstract |
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METHODS. All people 43 to 84 years of age and living in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, in 1988 were invited for a baseline examination (19881990), a 5-year follow-up examination (19931995), and a 10-year follow-up examination (19982000). Refractions were determined according to the same protocol at all examinations. Aphakic and pseudophakic eyes and eyes with best corrected visual acuity of 20/200 or worse were excluded. After exclusions, refraction data were available on 2362 right eyes of the 2937 people examined at baseline and 10-year follow-up.
RESULTS. Age was related to the direction and amount of change in refraction. Spherical equivalent became more positive in the youngest subjects and more negative in the oldest. After adjustment for the severity of nuclear sclerosis and other factors, the 10-year change in refraction was +0.48, +0.03, and -0.19 D for persons 43 to 59, 60 to 69 and 70+ years of age at the baseline examination, respectively. Severity of nuclear sclerosis was also strongly related to amount of change. Those with mild nuclear sclerosis at baseline had a change of +0.35 D, whereas those with severe nuclear sclerosis had a change of -0.53 D. The amount of change was also related to diabetes and weakly related to baseline refractive error, but was unrelated to gender and education. In addition to the longitudinal changes observed, there was a birth cohort effect. In comparing people of the same age across examinations, those born in more recent years had more myopia than those born in earlier years.
CONCLUSIONS. Significant changes in spherical equivalent in adults occur over a 10-year period. Younger people became more hyperopic, whereas older people became more myopic. These data provide evidence of a longitudinal change in refraction in adults, which may explain the refractive patterns observed in cross-sectional studies.
| Introduction |
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The reasons for these cross-sectional patterns are unclear. Education is strongly associated with prevalence of myopia.1 2 3 4 7 11 The higher prevalence of myopia in younger ages has been hypothesized to be due to differences between birth cohorts that may have had different exposures to education. In an Eskimo population, noticeable increases in the prevalence of myopia coincided with the introduction of mandatory education.12
Others, however, have hypothesized that these patterns reflect age-related changes within a person. Data from studies that compared the prevalence results of studies that were conducted during different decades suggested a longitudinal change with age, instead of a cohort effect.13 14 Another study that examined medical records of a clinic-based population over time found people in their 20s and 30s had refractive changes toward myopia, whereas people in their 50s and 60s had changes toward hyperopia over 10 years of follow-up.15 To our knowledge, the Beaver Dam Eye Study is the only population-based study that has examined changes in refraction over a long period in adults. Observations during a 5-year period showed a shift toward hyperopia occurred among all ages while accounting for degree of nuclear sclerosis.16 This population has now been observed for 10 years, permitting us to examine whether the shift toward hyperopia persists and to examine possible cohort effects in this population.
| Methods |
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Procedures
Similar procedures were used at each examination phase. Tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki were observed. Informed consent was obtained from each subject, and institutional human experimentation committee approval was granted. Measurement of the refractive correction in each participants current prescription (if available) was made, followed by a single standardized noncycloplegic refraction with an automated refractor (model 530; Humphrey Instruments, San Leandro, CA). The refraction was refined according to a modification of The Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) protocol20
to obtain the best corrected visual acuity when the automated refraction yielded visual acuity of 20/40 or worse. Inter- and intraexaminer comparisons showed no significant differences in the refractions, over time or among examiners. Examiners reliability measured within 0.25 D.
Blood pressure was measured according to the Hypertension Detection and Follow-up Program protocol.21 Pupils were pharmacologically dilated with 2.5% phenylephrine and 1% tropicamide. A scheduled interview was administered. During the interview, participants were asked about years of education completed; income; and history of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases (myocardial infarction, angina, and stroke), and cigarette and alcohol consumption. Specifically, the years and number of cigarettes smoked and number of 12-oz bottles of beer, 4-oz glasses of wine, and 1.5-oz glasses of liquor consumed per average week were recorded. After pupil dilation, slit lamp examination of the lens was performed. Photographs were then taken of the lens of each eye with modified cameras. Slit lamp photographs were subsequently graded for lens status and severity of nuclear sclerosis.22 Nuclear sclerosis was graded on a five-level scale by comparing the slit lamp photographs to a set of standards. Serum glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin from a casual blood specimen were measured for each subject.23 24
Definitions
The spherical equivalent (defined as sum of spherical power and half-cylinder power, in diopters) was calculated from one of three possible methods of refraction. The results of the Humphrey refraction were used in the analyses for the majority of the population (97% at baseline, 94% at 5-year follow-up, and 93% at 10-year follow-up). When ETDRS refraction (as modified for this study and described herein) was performed, that refraction was used in the analyses (3% at baseline, 4% at 5-year follow-up and 3% at 10-year follow-up). In the remaining people, refraction from the current prescription was used. Eyes without a lens or with an intraocular lens were excluded. In addition, eyes with best corrected visual acuity of 20/200 or worse were excluded from these analyses because of diminished reliability of refractions and increased variability of refractions. No person in the study had undergone refractive surgery.
Change in refraction was defined as the refraction at the baseline examination subtracted from the refraction at the 10-year examination. Myopia was defined as a spherical equivalent more myopic than -0.5 D. Hyperopia was defined as a spherical equivalent more hyperopic than +0.5 D. Incident myopia was defined as a change from -0.5 D and more hyperopic to more myopic than -0.5 D. Similarly, incident hyperopia was defined as a change from +0.5 D and more myopic to more hyperopic than +0.5 D. Change in spherical equivalent over time resulting in a positive change was defined as a shift toward hyperopia, whereas that resulting in a negative change was defined as a shift toward myopia.
A person was considered to have diabetes if there was a self-report of diabetes accompanied by treatment (insulin or diet) or elevated glucose or glycosylated hemoglobin. Age was defined by the baseline value. Education level was categorized as fewer than 12 years, 12 years, 13 to 15 years, and 16 or more years. Pack-years was defined as the number of packs smoked per day times the number of years smoked. The number of glasses of beer, wine, and hard liquor were converted to grams of ethanol (12.96 g for beer, 11.48 g for wine, and 14.0 g for hard liquor) and totaled. Nuclear sclerosis was graded as no nuclear sclerosis (grades 1 and 2), mild (grade 3), and severe (grades 4 and 5).
Statistical Methods
Analyses were performed using SAS25
and were performed separately on data from the right and left eyes. The mean amount of change was calculated for each level of a categorical risk factor, such as age or gender. Significance of differences in means was assessed through analysis of variance. When multiple risk factors were included in the model, type III sums of squares (SS) were examined.26
To compute the estimated change after adjusting for other factors, the multivariate model was evaluated with the appropriate population percentage used for each category for each risk factor. The amount of change was also categorized and compared between ages and genders with the Mantel-Haenszel test. Cumulative 10-year incidences of myopia and hyperopia (as categorical measures) were assessed through the discrete linear logistic model. Differences between age and gender groups were assessed with log rank statistics. Cohort effects were examined visually by treating the refractions observed at each examination of a person as independent observations and plotting those by age (at the corresponding examination) and year of birth.
| Results |
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We considered whether other characteristics might be related to changes in refraction. First, age-adjusted change associated with these factors was examined one at a time. A multivariate model with all these factors was then fit and the amount of change after adjustment for all the other factors was estimated (Table 3) . The results of the multivariate model did not differ substantially from the age-adjusted model. Degree of nuclear sclerosis, presence of diabetes, and baseline refractive error were all significantly related to the amount of 10-year change observed. Gender and education were not related to change in refraction. After adjusting for age and all other factors, those with moderate nuclear sclerosis (level 3) at baseline had a shift toward hyperopia over the 10 years of +0.21 D, whereas those with severe nuclear sclerosis (levels 4, 5) at baseline had a shift toward myopia of -0.53 D. Those with diabetes had a greater shift toward hyperopia than those without. People who had hyperopia or myopia at baseline had slightly smaller shifts toward hyperopia (+0.24 D and +0.25 D, respectively) than did emmetropes at baseline (+0.38 D).
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| Discussion |
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The shift toward myopia in the oldest age group may be attributable to advancing nuclear sclerosis. Nuclear sclerosis, age, and refraction appear to be closely linked.4 10 27 28 We used two different models to account for the effect of nuclear sclerosis. Conclusions from each model were similar to each other and to models adjusting for age only. The main effect of adjustment for nuclear cataract was an attenuation of the shift in myopia in the oldest age group. Thus, although nuclear sclerosis was an important factor in the amount of change in refraction, age was still an important factor. Nuclear sclerosis was also important because those with nuclear sclerosis at baseline may have been excluded from these analyses due to extraction of cataract or poor visual acuity.
In addition, other lenticular changes may occur. Studies examining the components of refraction have found that the lens gets thicker and more steeply curved with age.10 29 30 In compensation for these effects, the gradient in the refractive index also changes.29 31 32 Recent work by Glasser and Campbell30 has shown that the focal length of the lens increases up to age 65 years and then begins to decrease. These changes may explain some of the shifts observed in this study as well as the cross-sectional results.
In addition to lenticular changes, some studies have shown that the axial length continues to change in adults. Studies in young adults have shown that education and near work appear to cause increases in axial length and shifts toward more myopia.33 34 35 In an adult population in Singapore, the amount of myopia and hyperopia was most strongly related to axial length after adjustment for age and gender.10 We cannot evaluate these relationships, because we do not have measurements of axial length or near work in our study subjects.
Other factors examined did not have a strong effect on the refraction changes. Gender and education had no effect, whereas the presence of diabetes tended to cause a larger shift toward hyperopia. Although there were some significant differences in the amount of change by baseline refractive error, these differences were relatively small. Studies in young adults have also found that the amount of change differed little by initial refractive error.33 34 36
Education had no effect on the longitudinal changes, but may help explain the cohort effect. Several prevalence studies have shown higher rates of myopia among those with more education.1 2 3 4 5 Both the Framingham and the Beaver Dam Eye Studies have also shown higher education levels attained in the younger subjects.1 11 Differing patterns of education may be one explanation for the observed cohort effect.
In summary, we have documented 10-year changes in refraction in a population more than 40 years old at the baseline examination. These changes appeared to occur regardless of gender, education, or refractive status (i.e., no difference in amount of change in persons who are myopes, emmetropes, or hyperopes), but are highly dependent on age and degree of nuclear sclerosis. Younger participants had a shift toward hyperopia, whereas older participants and those with severe nuclear sclerosis had a shift toward myopia. These data provide further evidence that the eye undergoes refractive changes, even at older ages. We have also shown a cohort effect, in that people born in more recent years tended to have more myopia. The changes we observe may be noticeable to people and may require use of glasses in people who have never needed them before or may necessitate changes in current glasses. The changes are not monotonic. The changes should be recognized, especially by refractive surgeons whose are seeking to reduce refractive error at the time of surgery, but who may not be able to predict or tailor the surgery for changes in refraction that are likely to occur in their patients.
| Footnotes |
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Submitted for publication July 26, 2001; revised March 27, 2002; accepted April 10, 2002.
Commercial relationships policy: N.
The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C.
1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Corresponding author: Kristine E. Lee, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 610 North Walnut Street, 4th floor WARF, Madison, WI 53726; klee{at}epi.ophth.wisc.edu.
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