A digital health app – PreMO – is being offered free to eye care practitioners (ECPs), to provide a data-driven approach to support myopia management.
The Predicting Myopia Onset and Progression Risk Indicator (PreMO) app provides advice and guidance for children and their parents on the likelihood of future myopia and provides a structure with which to discuss strategies to delay onset.
For myopic children, the indicator can be used by ECPs to select evidence-based management options.
It was developed by researchers from Ulster University in collaboration with Wolffsohn Research. The data used in the app are derived from a UK population-based study of white children1,2 (the ‘NICER’ study). The algorithm has been evaluated against data from a mixed ethnicity cohort of children living in the UK and clinical data from children living in Hong Kong.
The app was launched as part of the recent World Sight Day celebrations on 12 October.
For myopic children, the indicator can be used by ECPs to select evidence-based management options
Risk Classification and Reports
To stratify the risk of myopia and myopia progression, ECPs input the child’s age, sex, family history, refractive error, and biometry (axial length or k-values).
Patient-friendly summary data are instantly generated and can be shared with patients and their carers through individualised patient reports.
PreMO is linked to cloud-based storage allowing ECPs to store, retrieve, and review a patient’s refractive error and axial length progression over time and with treatment.
The PreMO app is available free at premo-live.web.app/.
References
- McCullough, S.J., O’Donoghue, L., Saunders, K.J., Six year refractive change among white children and young adults: Evidence for significant increase in myopia among white UK children. PLoS One. 2016 Jan 19;11(1):e0146332. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146332. PMID: 26783753; PMCID: PMC4718680.
- McCullough, S., Adamson, G., Breslin, K.M.M., et al., Axial growth and refractive change in white European children and young adults: predictive factors for myopia. Sci Rep 10, 15189 (2020). DOI: doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72240-y.
