Predictive Nomogram for Large-Scale Childhood Myopia Screening and Intervention

PURPOSE: To study the correlation between uncorrected distance visual acuity (UCVA) and myopic refractive error among school-aged children. METHODS: The North India Myopia study is a prospective cohort study in which school children were screened for refractive error. These children were subsequently followed up to note the incidence and progression of myopia. The methodology of the study is as previously described. Children with UCVA < 3/60 were excluded for this analysis, since they are more likely to be associated with other ocular pathologies. RESULTS: Of the 9884 children screened, 1463 children fulfilled the inclusion criteria for this analysis. UCVA was plotted against the mean prescribed Spherical equivalent (SE), with a 95% confidence interval. Marginal predictions of prescribed power according to UCVA were calculated using linear regression, enabling the development of a nomogram to estimate the closest SE based on UCVA. CONCLUSION: There is a steady correlation between the UCVA and degree of myopic refractive error among school going children. This correlation has been utilized to develop this nomogram that may help predict myopic refractive error on the basis of uncorrected visual acuity. Large scale studies are needed for the validation of this nomogram in different populations.