Occurrence of refractive errors among students who before the age of two grew up under the influence of light emitted by incandescent or fluorescent lamps.

PURPOSE

The aim of the study was to determine whether the development of refractive errors could be associated with exposure to light emitted by incandescent or fluorescent lamps.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

3636 students were examined (1638 boys and 1998 girls, aged 6-18 years, mean age 12.1, SD 3.4). The examination included skiascopy with cycloplegia. Myopia was defined as refractive error < or = -0.5 D, hyperopia as refractive error > or = +1.5 D, astigmatism as refractive error > 0.5 DC. Anisometropia was diagnosed when the difference in the refraction of both eyes was > 1.0 D. The parents of all the students examined completed a questionnaire on the child's light exposure before the age oftwo. Data were analyzed statistically with the chi2 test. P values of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

It was observed that sleeping until the age of two in a room with a light turned on is associated with an increase in the occurrence of anisometropia (p < 0.02) as well as with a reduction in the prevalence of emmetropia (p < 0.05). It was also found that light emitted by fluorescent lamps leads to more frequent occurrence of astigmatism (p < 0.01).