An international study – co-led by The University of Western Australia (UWA) – has created the equivalent of infant growth curve charts for children’s eyes to help clinicians identify the warning signs of myopia.
In findings published in JAMA Ophthalmology, the Consortium for Refractive Error and Myopia in Children (CREAM-kids) analysed almost 560,000 eye measurements from 147,573 children and young people from Australia, Europe, and East Asia to develop the first age-, sex- and region-specific centile charts for eye length.1
Study co-lead Dr Gareth Lingham – from UWA, the Lions Eye Institute (LEI), and the Centre for Eye Research Ireland – said to better prevent and treat myopia, clinicians must monitor and manage eye growth.2
However, much like height, eye length varied widely depending on age, sex, and where a child lived.
… the charts are similar to those used to track height and weight in babies and children
“A lack of reference values charting these differences has made it hard to interpret eye lengths in different groups, in turn making it difficult to confidently spot myopia risk early on,” Dr Lingham said.
Approximately 25% of Australians and 35–40% of people worldwide currently have myopia, which is projected to increase to 50% globally by 2050. In some parts of Southeast and East Asia, up to 80% of young adults have myopia.2
Founding consortium member Professor David Mackey, also from UWA and the LEI, said the charts are similar to those used to track height and weight in babies and children.
“Although these centile charts are not intended to diagnose myopia, they could help clinicians identify whether a child’s eye growth is unusually rapid, how they compare with peers in their region, and whether they are at risk,” Prof Mackey said.
Prof Mackey is now leading a study to improve the new charts by measuring eye growth in Western Australian children participating in the Raine Study (Gen3) and the ORIGINS study.
References
- Kneepkens SCM, Lingham G, Flitcroft DI, et al; CREAM-Kids Consortium. Global axial length centile charts. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2026 Jul 16:e262539. doi: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2026.2539. Epub ahead of print.
- University of Western Australia, Charting children’s eyes to head off global myopia epidemic, News, 21 July 2026. Available at: uwa.edu.au/news/article/2026/july/charting-childrens-eyes-to-head-off-global-myopia-epidemic [accessed Aug 2026].
