Pauline Kang - research works

The prevalence of self-reported myopia in Australian adults appears high and likely an overestimation.

As commonly observed, self-reported myopia was higher in educated urban populations, with a greater propensity in females than males in the younger cohorts.

Poorer quality of life and health ratings in self-reported myopes align with previous findings. The higher rates of health conditions in self-reported myopes may reflect shared lifestyle and environmental risk factors.

In adulthood, higher time spent outdoors was associated with lower prevalence of self-reported myopia. This may indicate that outdoor behaviours in adulthood reflect those in childhood, when myopia develops.

However, caution interpreting these findings is warranted due to the cross-sectional design, potential misclassification of myopia and temporal gap (13-17 years) between self-reporting of outdoor time and myopia status.

While many participants were aware of myopia, significant gaps existed in understanding its symptoms, risk factors and management.

Public health initiatives are needed to improve community knowledge and promote early detection, prevention and treatment to reduce the long-term risk of visual impairment for myopic children.