EW Weekly, September 25, 2020

- Retinal ‘organoid’ developed to study therapies for blinding diseases
- Study: Biomarker for neurodegenerative diseases found in the eye
- Company receives IND for magnetic cell-based therapy to treat corneal edema
- Gene therapy for dry AMD granted Fast Track designation
- Eyevance becomes wholly owned subsidiary of Santen
- 20/Happy in 2020: ASCRS continues master class
- Research highlights
- A cohort study of all inpatients at the Suizhou Zengdu Hospital in Suizhou, China, from Jan. 27–March 13, 2020, evaluated the impact of daily eyeglasses wear and COVID-19 infection. The researchers considered daily eyeglasses wear being used for more than 8 hours per day. Two hundred and seventy-six patients with COVID-19 were enrolled in the study, and of these, 16 patients were considered daily eyeglass wearers. This, the study authors noted, was lower than the proportion of people with myopia in the Hubei province overall, which is 31.5% of the population being daily eyeglass wearers based on previous research. With this information, the researchers theorized that this could “[suggest] that daily wearers of eyeglasses may be less susceptible to COVID-19.” This study is published in JAMA Ophthalmology.
- Early onset of myopia is strongly associated with the risk of developing high myopia in adulthood according to a cohort study in China with 12 years of follow-up. The research published in JAMA Ophthalmology is an ongoing, population-based, prospective twin study in Guangzhou. This analysis included 443 participants after exclusions with age of myopia onset being recorded followed by refraction when reaching adulthood. According to the study, risk of developing high myopia was more than 50% when myopia onset occurred at 7 or 8 years old. Risk of developing high myopia by adulthood was 30% if myopia onset occurred at age 9, 20% if onset occurred at 10, and less than 5% if onset occurred at age 12. The study authors concluded: “Each year of delay in the age at onset substantially reduces the chance of developing high myopia in adulthood, highlighting the importance of identifying effective prevention strategies under investigation, such as increasing outdoor time.”
This issue of EyeWorld Weekly was edited by Stacy Jablonski and Vanessa Caceres.
EyeWorld Weekly (ISSN 1089-0319), a digital publication of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), is published every Friday, distributed by email, and posted live on Friday.
Medical Editors: Eric Donnenfeld, MD, Chief Medical Editor; Rosa Braga-Mele, MD, Cataract Editor; Clara Chan, MD, Cornea Editor; Nathan Radcliffe, MD, Glaucoma Editor; and Vance Thompson, MD, Refractive Editor
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