PURPOSE:

To estimate gender- and age-specific prevalence of myopia and identify risk indicators for myopia in a population-based sample of Latino adults aged 40 years and older in La Puente, California.

METHODS:

Noncycloplegic automated refraction with supplemental standardized subjective refraction was performed for presenting visual acuity worse than 20/20. Potential risk indicators for myopia were evaluated by questionnaire and clinical examination. The gender- and age-specific prevalence of spherical equivalent myopia in phakic eyes was calculated. Multiple logistic regression identified independent risk indicators for myopia.

RESULTS:

Refractive error was analyzed for the worse eye of 5927 of 6357 participating Latinos. The overall prevalence of myopia < or = -1.0 D was 16.8%, and of high myopia < or = -5.0 D, 2.4%. When participants were stratified by age, myopia initially decreased with age and then increased in the oldest groups in association with nuclear opacification. Risk indicators for myopia were: oldest and youngest age groups, presence of diabetes mellitus, high acculturation, high school or higher education, and birth in the United States. The latter two were also predictors of high myopia.

CONCLUSIONS:

Risk indicators for myopia in adult Latinos include higher education, birth in the United States, high acculturation, and diabetes. The burden of myopia in older Latinos exceeds that in African Americans and non-Hispanic whites in the United States.