Study of Myopia Acquisition and Prevention

Purpose:

To determine whether the use of reading glasses blocks the near work mediated increased incidence of myopia in healthy school children.

Methods:

SMART enrolled 115 emmetropic children (ages 7-9 years). The children were recruited in the Principality of Liechtenstein. They were randomly assigned to either the control group (n=52) or to receive reading glasses with a lens power of +2.0 dioptres (n=63). The primary outcome measure was progression towards myopia as determined by autorefraction after cycloplegia. The secondary outcome measure was change in biometry measurements of corneal curvature, axial length, anterior chamber depth, crystalline lens thickness, and vitreous chamber depth using partial coherence interferometry.