American Journal of Ophthalmology
Volume 154, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 376-381.e1

Variation in prevalence of myopia between generations of migrant indians living in Singapore (Article)

Pan C.-W. , Zheng Y.-F. , Wong T.-Y. , Lavanya R. , Wu R.-Y. , Gazzard G. , Saw S.-M.*
  • a School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, 16 Medical Drive (MD 3), Singapore 117597, Singapore
  • b Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, London, United Kingdom
  • c School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, 16 Medical Drive (MD 3), Singapore 117597, Singapore, Department of Ophthalmology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore, Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, London, United Kingdom
  • d Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, London, United Kingdom
  • e Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, London, United Kingdom
  • f Moorfield Eye Hospital, London, United Kingdom
  • g School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, 16 Medical Drive (MD 3), Singapore 117597, Singapore, Department of Ophthalmology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore, Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, London, United Kingdom

Abstract

• PURPOSE: To assess the influence of factors related to migration and acculturation on myopia in migrant Indians in Singapore. • DESIGN: Population-based cross-sectional study. • METHODS: A total of 3400 Singaporean Indians (75.6% response rate) aged over 40 years participated in this study. Information regarding country of birth, migration age, and language of interview were collected from interviews. Indians born outside of Singapore were defined as "first-generation" immigrants, while Indians born in Singapore were defined as "second-generation (or higher)" immigrants. Refraction was determined by autorefraction and refined by subjective refraction. Ocular biometry including axial length (AL), anterior chamber depth (ACD), and corneal radius (CR) were measured by partial coherence interferometry. Myopia and high myopia were defined as spherical equivalents (SE) of less than -0.5 diopter (D) for myopia, and < -5 D for high myopia, respectively. • RESULTS: The prevalence of myopia (30.2% vs 23.4 %) and high myopia (4.8% vs 2.5%) were higher in second-generation immigrants compared with first-generation immigrants. Second-generation immigrants had longer AL (23.50 mm vs 23.37 mm, P = .004) than first-generation immigrants after multivariate adjustment. The excess prevalence of myopia was reduced by 37.5% but remained statistically significant (P = .02) after further controlling for educational level. Among first-generation immigrants, those migrating to Singapore before the age of 21 had significantly higher prevalence of myopia (odds ratio [OR]: 1.85; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.32, 2.59) and longer AL (regression coefficient: 0.27; 95% CI: 0.11, 0.43) than those migrating after 21 years of age. Also, first-generation immigrants interviewed in English had higher prevalence of myopia (OR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.00, 2.17) than their non-Englishinterviewed counterparts. • CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of myopia among second-generation (or higher) Indian immigrants in Singapore is higher than first-generation immigrants. Country-specific environmental factors may be important for the increasing prevalence of myopia in Asia. © 2012 by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Author Keywords

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Index Keywords

education immigrant Indian human cornea priority journal Myopia language cross-sectional study male female Article major clinical study adult migration Singapore anterior eye chamber depth anterior eye chamber angle eye refraction
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84866389884&doi=10.1016%2fj.ajo.2012.02.027&partnerID=40&md5=09e97709f68a32152c6f234f0ad3618a
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajo.2012.02.027
ISSN: 00029394
Cited by: 24
Original Language: English