Background: We conducted a study to compare variables in children who were initially emmetropic and became myopic to those in children who remained emmetropic. This paper examines parental history of myopia in the two groups of children.
Methods: A cohort of initially emmetropic children was given eye and vision examinations at 6-month intervals for 3 years. Data on parental history of myopia were obtained by questionnaire.
Results: A greater proportion of children in the became-myopic group had myopic parents compared to children in the remained-emmetropic group. The sensitivity for onset of myopia was 0.95 and specificity was 0.38 if at least one parent was myopic. A sensitivity of 0.36 and a specificity of 0.87 were found for both parents being myopic. There was a significant association between parental history of myopia and development of myopia in the children in the study (p < 0.01 by chi 2 for categorization of whether neither, one, or both parents were myopic for children in the became-myopic and remained-emmetropic groups).
Conclusion: Parental history of myopia is a risk factor for the development of myopia.