Developing a Polygenic Risk Score with Age and Sex to Identify High-Risk Myopia in Taiwan

Abstract

Myopia is the leading cause of impaired vision, and its prevalence is increasing among Asian populations. This study aimed to develop a polygenic risk score (PRS) followed by replication to predict myopia in the Taiwanese population. In total, 23,688 participants with cycloplegic autorefraction-measured mean spherical equivalent (SE), genetic, and demographic data were included. The myopia PRS was generated based on genome-wide association study (GWAS) outcomes in a Taiwanese population and previously published GWAS reports. The results demonstrated that the inclusion of age and sex in the PRS had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.80, 0.78, and 0.73 (p 18 years with high (SE p = 0.003) compared with that in the remaining participants. Further, a higher PRS significantly increased the risk of high myopia (SE ≤ −2.0 D) in children ≤6 years of age (p = 0.027). In conclusion, including the PRS, age, and sex improved the prediction of high myopia risk in the Taiwanese population.

Keywords

• genome-wide association study (GWAS)
• polygenic risk score (PRS)
• myopia
• spherical equivalent
• iHi data platform