Effect of intensive reading on the development of myopia in emmetropic secondary school children: The preliminary results Purpose: To reveal the effect of intensive reading on myopic development in secondary school children with emmetropic eyes. Methods: Both eyes of 47 male children (n = 94) with mean age of 12.70 years and mean 6 hours of reading (Group 1) were compared prospecti vely with the eyes of 36 children (n = 72) with mean age of 13.31 years without reading (Group 2) by means of cycloplegic refraction and ultrasonic biometric measurements at intervals of 18 months. Results: Myopic shift was present in 68 (72.3%) of 94 eyes by means ofcycloplegic refraction in Group 1. The mean anterior chamber depth (ACD), axial length (AUX), and keratometric (K) readings were significantly higher after 18 months than first measurements (p = .0001 for all) in Group 1. There were no any statistically significant differences between two measurements of these parameters in Group 2 except increasing in keratometric readings. Conclusion: Our preliminary results show that reading and writing, one of the important environmental factor, causes refract ve myop c sh ft n emmetrop c male schoolch ldren, and is related with statistically significant increase in both AUX and K readings
Key Words: Myopia, myopic shift, progression, emmetropia, reading, close- work, b ometry, refract on1
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