UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
Grant: $110,050 - National Institutes of Health - Sep. 14, 2009
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Award Description: This proposal is for the University of Alabama at Birmingham Clinical Center to continue to annually examine the 127 currently enrolled COSMICC participants (only 5 subjects are lost to follow-up since enrollment in 1997-98) for an additional 5 yrs (total follow-up, 14 yrs) following the COSMICC2 protocol. The data collected from this center will be used to address the specific aims described in more detail in the Chair application and summarized briefly here: 1) to use mathematical functions (the Gompertz function and others) to model myopia progression in the 58% of COSMICC subjects with progressing myopia and to develop predictive models and test hypotheses based on previously identified risk factors (age, ethnicity, parental myopia); 2) to test 4 hypotheses related to environmental risk factors for myopia progression and stabilization and axial elongation in this well-characterized cohort of myopes; and 3) to test three hypotheses related to risk factors for the development of myopia-related changes in IOP, CCT and macular thickness in COSMICC subjects. The high prevalence of myopia (25% of the US adult population) and its prominence as a public health problem (risk factor for conditions that can cause vision loss and blindness) emphasize the importance of gaining increased understanding of mechanisms underlying progression and eventual stabilization, so that in the future myopia might be limited to low levels. Better understanding of the factors predictive of myopia progression and stabilization also will help guide selection and timing of interventions as well as target those groups that may benefit the most from treatment.
Project Description: The COMET cohort is a group of ethnically diverse, myopic young adults with 11 years of standardized, reliable measurements of refractive error and ocular components. Retention is excellent at 90%. We are now investigating the association of myopia progression and axial elongation with intraocular pressure (IOP), central corneal thickness (CCT), and macular/optic disc thickness measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT). These results will help to identify individuals with increased risk of myopia-related pathology. However, limited data are available from healthy, young non-myopic eyes to serve as a control group for these new data that are now being collected. Preliminary data suggest that moderate and high myopes such as found in the COMET cohort may have retinal and optic disc abnormalities, and may also have higher IOP and thinner corneas, but in order to confirm these findings we need to test a comparison group of non-myopic subjects. The overall aim for the supplement is to conduct preliminary comparisons of measurements of macular thickness, optic disc parameters, IOP, and CCT between myopic COSMICC subjects and an age and ethnicity matched group of non-myopic young adults. The supplement is expected to stimulate the economy by enabling the hiring of additional staff, adding hours of current part-time staff, and at UAB, buying needed equipment.
Jobs Summary: Project not started (Total jobs reported: 0)
Project Status: Not Started
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