ORCID
- Síofra Harrington: 0000-0003-2667-1796
- Michael Moore: 0000-0003-3919-444X
- Ian Flitcroft: 0000-0002-7004-6026
Abstract
Reduced hyperopic reserve (HR) in early childhood is a strong predictor of future myopia. A harmonized dataset from the CREAM-Kids Consortium was utilized to assess regional differences in HR. Among 7-year olds, mean (SD) HR was 1.44 (1.17) D in Europe, 1.32 (0.80) D in Australia, 0.78 (0.89) D in Hong Kong, and 0.59 (0.66) D in Singapore (p < 0.001). The annualized decline in HR was −0.12 D/year among European-Australian followed from age 6.73 (0.64) to 11.64 (1.49), and −0.35 D/year among Asian followed from age 7.71 (0.77) to 10.71 (0.77). In European-Australian aged 6–7, the sensitivity and specificity of myopia screening was 67%–75% and 98%, and in Asian aged 4–9, 92%–99% and 70%–77%, respectively. Asian children demonstrated substantially lower HR and a faster consumption than their European and Australian peers, placing a larger proportion of Asian children at higher risk for early-onset myopia.
Keywords
CREAM-KIDS, Eye observable entity, hyperopic reserve, Myopia, Ophthalmology, regional, screening
DOI Link
Publication Date
2026-10-16
Publication Title
iScience
Volume
29
Issue
10
Deposit Date
2026-11-09
Funding
Funding bodies include: Tampere Region Support Foundation for the Visually Impaired, Eye tion Finland; The SNOW study was funded by the University of South- Eastern Norway; Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Project Grants 512530 and 253732; UK Medical Research Council Clinical Research Training Fellowship and University of London Chadburn Clinical Lectureship; The Northern Ireland Childhood Errors of Refraction (NICER) study was funded by the College of Optometrists, UK; the Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province, China (2023RC1079, 2024RC5002); European Research Council (ERC) under the ropean Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant 101098324, CCWK), CORR (2023-8.2.0), Landelijke Stichting gen, Oogfonds, and Algemene Nederlandse Vereniging ter voorkoming van Blindheid (Uitzicht grant 2024-30).
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Additional Links
Recommended Citation
CREAM-KIDS Consortium., Pan, W., Harrington, S., Lingham, G., Moore, M., Foo, L., Kneepkens, S., van Hemert, D., Saunders, K., McCullough, S., Willams, K., Pärssinen, O., Baraas, R., Hagen, L., French, A., Saw, S., Yam, J., Klaver, C., Flitcroft, I., & Lan, W. (2026) 'Hyperopic reserve, early myopia risk and screening strategies in children: A multi-regional analysis from the CREAM-KIDS consortium', iScience, 29(10). Available at: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.117594