The Impact of Study-at-Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic on Myopia Progression in Chinese Children

• Main Authors: Dandan Ma (Author), Shifei Wei (Author), Shi-Ming Li (Author), Xiaohui Yang (Author), Kai Cao (Author), Jianping Hu (Author), Xiaoxia Peng (Author), Ruohua Yan (Author), Jing Fu (Author), Andrzej Grzybowski (Author), Zi-Bing Jin (Author), Ningli Wang (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A., 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

Background: To assess the impact of study-at-home during the COVID-19 pandemic on myopia development in Chinese schoolchildren.Methods: This historical cohort involved two groups with a total of 154 children. The exposed group was formed from 77 children aged 8 to 10 years who studied at home in the 7-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic (follow-up period: January - August 2020) and did not study at home in the 7-month period before the COVID-19 outbreak (baseline period: July 2019 - January 2020). Seventy-seven children who did not undergo study-at-home (baseline period: 7 months in 2015, follow-up period: 7 months in 2016) were included in the control group. Cycloplegic refraction, axial length and uncorrected visual acuity were measured 3 times. The questionnaire mainly focused on collecting visual habits.Results: Myopia progression was similar between the two groups in the baseline period. However, in the follow-up period the exposed group had a greater change in refraction toward myopia (−0.83 ± 0.56 D) than the control group (−0.28 ± 0.54 D; p < 0.001). In addition, the exposed group exhibited a significantly greater change in refraction toward myopia in the follow-up period (−0.83 ± 0.56 D) than in the baseline period (−0.33 ± 0.46 D; p < 0.001). Difference-in-difference analysis indicated that study-at-home accelerated the change in refraction toward myopia (t = −0.567; p < 0.001).Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic study-at-home accelerated the change of refraction toward myopia in children.

Item Description

2296-2565
10.3389/fpubh.2021.720514