A cross-sectional study on a normal clinical myopic population reveals that there is a difference in the pattern of myopic progression between Malays and Chinese in Malaysia. It shows that while myopia in Malays stays relatively constant throughout 10 to 50 years of age, myopia in Chinese progresses rapidly from 10 to 20 years of age, after which it starts to show hyperopic shift, reaching a level of myopia similar to that of Malays at around 35 years of age. In view of the above finding it is postulated that the difference in myopia between the two races may be due to excessive accommodation in Chinese, causing a temporary increase in crystalline lens power and hence an increase in myopia. Because the magnitude of myopia for both races for 10 +/- 1 years age group is relatively high, i.e. about -2.00 D, it is postulated that myopia in these ethnic groups may start much earlier than 10 years of age.
Development of myopia among young children is often contributed to the refractive status of the parents. This study was conducted to determine whether myopia can be inherited across the generation among a sample in the Klang Valley. Three generations involved are: G1 (grandparents), G2 (parents) and G3 (children).
Computerised data of 110,236 Singaporean males aged 15 to 25 (mean 17.75) years who underwent compulsory medical examination from April 1987 to January 1992 were used to estimate the prevalence and severity of myopia among young Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian Singaporean males with different educational levels. The prevalence and severity of myopia amongst the groups with different educational levels were compared. These groups were fairly well-matched for important known confounding factors such as age, sex, race and degree of urbanisation of place of residence. Our data showed a positive association between educational attainment and both the prevalence and severity of myopia. Both the prevalence of myopia and the proportion of myopes with severe myopia were in general higher among those with more years of formal education.
A cross-sectional study of 753 Melanesian children in Vanuatu and 904 Malay children in Malaysia included measurement of refractive error and ocular dimensions. All children were between the ages of 6 and 17 years. The prevalence of myopia in Malay children was 4.3% at 7-8 years and 25.6% at 15-16 years with corresponding figures of 0.8% and 4.3% for Melanesian children. The range of refractive error was greater for Malay children at all ages. Mean refractive error for Malay children showed greater hypermetropia, together with a shorter axial length at 6 years, than Melanesian children, but at 17 years the situation reversed and Malay children had more myopia and longer axial lengths than their Melanesian counterparts.