Elite School of Optometry, Unit of Medical Research Foundation, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Indian J Ophthalmol. 2022 Aug;70(8):3040-3044. doi: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_40_22.
Novel coronavirus has brought huge changes in lifestyle, especially among children. Reports indicate that the prevalence of refractive errors among children has increased due to home confinement. Hence, this study was done to understand the current status of refractive errors among children from public schools in southern India.
This cross-sectional study was conducted as part of school eye screening conducted between September and October 2021. Children between 14 and 17 years of age from public schools underwent a three-phased comprehensive eye examination. Children identified with refractive errors and an equal proportion of children without any refractive errors underwent a survey on outdoor activities. Prevalence estimates and 95% confidence interval were calculated. Chi-square tests and regression analysis were used to understand the association between refractive error and other variables.
From the data of 3,850 (90.69%) children, the prevalence of vision impairment, refractive errors, and myopia in at least one eye was found to be 12.83% (n = 494), 21.51% (n = 828), and 19.53% (n = 752), respectively. The average myopic spherical equivalent error was found to be -2.17 ± 1.11D (range:-0.50 D to -14.00 D). Almost 96.82% of girls had less than 3 h of outdoor activities. Refractive errors were 7.42 and 2.77 times more (95% CI: 3.51-15.70), P < 0.001) among children who had outdoor activities less than 3 h per day and sleep less than 7 h per day.
Comparing to previous studies from North Indian and South Indian public schools, this study reports a three- to six-fold rise in myopia post-home confinement among public school children from India.
新型冠状病毒给生活方式带来了巨大变化，尤其是儿童。有报道称，由于居家隔离，儿童的屈光不正患病率有所增加。因此，本研究旨在了解印度南部公立学校儿童目前的屈光不正状况。
这是一项横断面研究，作为 2021 年 9 月至 10 月期间进行的学校眼筛查的一部分。来自公立学校的 14 至 17 岁儿童接受了三阶段全面眼科检查。患有屈光不正的儿童和比例相等的无屈光不正的儿童接受了户外活动调查。计算了患病率估计值和 95%置信区间。采用卡方检验和回归分析来了解屈光不正与其他变量之间的关系。
从 3850 名（90.69%）儿童的数据中，发现视力损害、屈光不正和至少一眼近视的患病率分别为 12.83%（n=494）、21.51%（n=828）和 19.53%（n=752）。平均近视球镜等效误差为-2.17±1.11D（范围：-0.50 D 至-14.00 D）。几乎 96.82%的女孩每天户外活动时间少于 3 小时。每天户外活动时间少于 3 小时和每天睡眠时间少于 7 小时的儿童，屈光不正的发生率分别是前者的 7.42 倍和 2.77 倍（95%CI：3.51-15.70），P<0.001）。
与来自印度北部和南部公立学校的先前研究相比，本研究报告称，居家隔离后，印度公立学校儿童的近视患病率增加了三到六倍。
