The Yearly Digest updates readers in the key advances in myopia in the following sections until the next series of these IMI white papers are published: Various online databases were searched from 2019 up to mid-2020, and notable conference presentations that featured myopia such as the IMC 2019, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, and the ARVO 2020 virtual meeting were included. The taskforce members producing the digests were involved in the original IMI white papers and have curated between 3 and 10 of the most potentially impactful articles published in their area from 2019 to the mid-2020, with personal insights. The yearly digests are organized around six of the original seven IMI white papers.
The yearly digest is a simple and convenient way for clinicians and researchers to access the recent highlights in myopia. This presents a daunting challenge in trying to keep up with the latest information. In other words, almost 1000 articles have been published since the first series of IMI white papers (2019).
More voices calling for collective action are necessary to move this area forward and ensure the latest evidence-based practice.Ī search of PubMed using the term “myopia” from 2019 to mid-2020 alone yielded almost 1000 peer-reviewed articles. Raising awareness for myopia and high myopia as a significant public health issue is an ongoing process involving the collective efforts of researchers, clinicians, industry, policy makers, and various groups that work with children. Recent key achievements include the IMI definitions 2 being referenced at the ICD-11 Revision Technical meeting in 2019, the IMI white papers being referenced in the WHO World Report on Vision, clinical summaries derived from the IMI white papers being translated into 12 languages, dedicated sessions being included at key practitioner and scientific meetings, and five new 2021 IMI white papers published in this special issue of IOVS. Professor Serge Resnikoff accepted the role of chair of IMI in 2018, and since the publication of the first IMI white papers, IMI has pursued its mission to disseminate evidence-based information to advance research, education, and myopia management to prevent future myopia-related vision loss and blindness. The first white papers were published in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science ( IOVS) in 2019, a process chaired by Professors Earl Smith, James Wolffsohn, and Serge Resnikoff and facilitated by Dr. This was a truly global collaborative effort, and today the IMI has over 130 experts involved in 13 taskforces. The subsequent International Myopia Conference Meeting (IMC) in 2015 further highlighted the need for a consensus group and led to the collaboration between the IMC and IMI, which resulted in the formation of the initial seven task forces that produced the first series of IMI white papers on myopia. The initial impetus for the IMI was to develop consensus definitions of myopia, high myopia, and pathologic myopia, as well as recommendations on treatment strategies to prevent myopia onset and to slow myopia progression, especially in low-income settings, and to promote basic and clinical research on myopia. The IMI was formed to facilitate the sharing of evidence-based findings related to the worldwide significant increase of myopia with practitioners, researchers, and policy makers. The International Myopia Institute (IMI) consensus group was founded in 2015 by the late Professor Brien Holden (BHVI, Sydney) following the joint World Health Organization (WHO) and BHVI Meeting on Myopia held in Sydney.
Key advances include the use of the definition of premyopia in studies currently under way to test interventions in myopia, new definitions in the field of pathologic myopia, the role of new pharmacologic treatments in experimental models such as intraocular pressure–lowering latanoprost, a large meta-analysis of refractive error identifying 336 new genetic loci, new clinical interventions such as the defocus incorporated multisegment spectacles and combination therapy with low-dose atropine and orthokeratology (OK), normative standards in refractive error, the ethical dilemma of a placebo control group when myopia control treatments are established, reporting the physical metric of myopia reduction versus a percentage reduction, comparison of the risk of pediatric OK wear with risk of vision impairment in myopia, the justification of preventing myopic and axial length increase versus quality of life, and future vision loss. One thousand articles on myopia have been published between 2019 and mid-2020.