Collaborative Observational Study of Myopia in COMET Children 2: Clinial Ceneter

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal is for the University of Alabama at Birmingham Clinical Center to continue to annually examine the 127 currently enrolled COSMICC participants (only 5 subjects are lost to follow-up since enrollment in 1997-98) for an additional 5 yrs (total follow-up, 14 yrs) following the COSMICC2 protocol. The data collected from this center will be used to address the specific aims described in more detail in the Chair application and summarized briefly here: 1) to use mathematical functions (the Gompertz function and others) to model myopia progression in the 58% of COSMICC subjects with progressing myopia and to develop predictive models and test hypotheses based on previously identified risk factors (age, ethnicity, parental myopia); 2) to test 4 hypotheses related to environmental risk factors for myopia progression and stabilization and axial elongation in this well-characterized cohort of myopes; and 3) to test three hypotheses related to risk factors for the development of myopia-related changes in IOP, CCT and macular thickness in COSMICC subjects. The high prevalence of myopia (25% of the US adult population) and its prominence as a public health problem (risk factor for conditions that can cause vision loss and blindness) emphasize the importance of gaining increased understanding of mechanisms underlying progression and eventual stabilization, so that in the future myopia might be limited to low levels. Better understanding of the factors predictive of myopia progression and stabilization also will help guide selection and timing of interventions as well as target those groups that may benefit the most from treatment.