Faculty Bibliography

AIM/OBJECTIVE:To assess whether intraocular pressure (IOP) is associated with refractive error or axial length in children. METHODS:Of subjects from the Singapore Cohort Study of the Risk Factors for Myopia (SCORM), 636 Chinese children aged 9-11 years from two elementary schools underwent non-contact tonometry, cycloplegic autorefraction, and A-scan biometry during 2001. For analyses, refractive error was categorised into four groups; hypermetropia (spherical equivalent refraction (SE) > or = +1.0D), emmetropia (-0.5D<SE< +1.0D), low myopia (-3.0D<SE< or = -0.5D) and high myopia (SE< or = -3.0D). RESULTS:Of the 636 children examined, 50.6% were male. The mean IOP was 16.6 (SD 2.7) mm Hg. There were no significant IOP differences between low (mean IOP = 16.4 (2.8) mm Hg) or high myopes (16.7 (2.5) mm Hg) and emmetropes (16.7 (2.9) mm Hg), p = 0.57. IOP was not correlated with spherical equivalent refraction (Spearman correlation, r = 0.009) or axial length (r = 0.030). In regression analyses adjusting for diastolic blood pressure, neither spherical equivalent (regression coefficient = 0.014) nor axial length (regression coefficient = 0.027) were significantly associated with IOP. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:These findings do not support an association between IOP and refractive error or axial length in children. This questions postulated roles of IOP in the pathogenesis of myopia.

AIM/OBJECTIVE:To determine the prevalence and identify associated risk factors for dry eye syndrome in a population in Sumatra, Indonesia. METHODS:A one stage cluster sampling procedure was conducted to randomly select 100 households in each of the five rural villages and one provincial town of the Riau province, Indonesia, from April to June 2001. Interviewers collected demographic, lifestyle, and medical data from 1058 participants aged 21 years or over. Symptoms of dry eye were assessed using a six item validated questionnaire. Presence of one or more of the six dry eye symptoms often or all the time was analysed. Presence of pterygium was documented. RESULTS:Prevalence of one or more of the six dry eye symptoms often or all the time adjusted for age was 27.5% (95% confidence interval (CI) 24.8 to 30.2). After adjusting for all significant variables, independent risk factors for dry eye were pterygium (p<0.001, multivariate odds ratio (OR) 1.8; 95% CI 1.4 to 2.5) and a history of current cigarette smoking (p=0.05, multivariate OR 1.5; 95% CI 1.0 to 2.2). CONCLUSIONS:This population based study provides prevalence rates of dry eye symptoms in a tropical developing nation. From our findings, pterygium is a possible independent risk factor for dry eye symptoms.