Darkness and near work: myopia and its progression in third-year law students. Ophthalmology 109

Purpose: To evaluate myopia prevalence, myopia progression, and various potential myopia risk factors in third-year law students. Design: Cross-sectional study and survey. Participants: One hundred seventy-nine third-year law students at the University of Pennsylvania. Methods: We administered a questionnaire to assess the prevalence of myopia, myopia progression, and risk factors, including near work, family history, and daily light/dark exposure. We conducted a screening eye examination to ascertain myopia status. Myopia was defined as the mean spherical equivalent of the two eyes of 0.5 diopters; myopia progression was defined by the self-reported need for a stronger eyeglass prescrip-tion during law school. Main Outcome Measures: (1) prevalence of myopia, (2) progression of myopia. Results: Seventy-nine percent of the class participated (n 179, two were excluded for amblyopia leaving 177 students). Fifty-eight percent were male, 75 % were Caucasian, and the mean age was 27 years. Seventy-nine percent reported parental myopia. The mean amount of near work was 7.4 hours/day; mean sleep was 7.9 hours/day; mean darkness was 5.3 hours/day. Sixty-six percent of the students were myopic. Of 96 participants myopic before law school, myopia increased in 83 (86%) during law school. Among 75 students not myopic a