News Briefs Archive

New Research Findings: Impact of Glasses for Children with Hyperopia

June 26, 2019

Early use of prescription eyeglasses by young children with hyperopia failed to show a significant vision benefit after three years of follow-up in a randomized trial, according to reporting by Charles Bankhead in MedPage Today.

Children assigned to glasses had a failure rate of 21 percent versus 34 percent for children who were observed during the follow-up period, which did not achieve statistical significance in the 130-patient study.

Still, almost twice as many patients assigned to observation met criteria for vision deterioration, Marjean T. Kulp, OD, of Ohio State University College of Optometry in Columbus, and coauthors reported in Ophthalmology.

“Our estimates of failure, after three years of six-month follow-ups, are inconclusive and consistent with a small-to-moderate benefit, or no benefit, of immediate prescription of glasses compared with careful observations, with glasses only if deteriorated,” the authors concluded.

“A larger study would be needed to determine a more precise estimate of the treatment effect and whether one management strategy is better than the other,” they added. “Regardless of initial treatment approach, the moderate-to-high proportion of deterioration and subsequent moderate proportion of failure at three years indicate the need for eyecare professionals to closely follow children aged 1-2 years with moderate hyperopia.”

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