Progression of Vision in Chinese School-Aged Children Before and After COVID-19

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the changes of vision, including the prevalence of myopia, hyperopia, poor vision, and the spherical equivalent refraction (SER), in school-aged children before and after the pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).Methods: A school-based vision screening study was performed on children in 133 primary schools in Wuhan. This study was conducted in 4 consecutive years (2018–2021).Results: A total of 468,094 children (936,188 eyes) were recruited, 255,863 (54.7%) were boys. The SER decreased in 2020 compared to other years after the age of 10. A positive myopia shift was found in younger children aged 6 (0.1 D), 7 (0.05D), and 8 (0.03 D) in 2020 compared to 2019. The progression of vision has improved slightly in 2021. Among the students included in the study, 33.7% were myopia.Conclusion: The vision of older children decreased significantly during the COVID-19. After the pandemic, there is still a high risk for them. In the future, the focus on vision prevention and control should move forward to preschool children.

Progression and incidence of myopia among schoolchildren in the post-COVID-19 pandemic period: a prospective cohort study in Shantou, China

“…This study is one of the few to investigate the progression and incidence of myopia among Chinese schoolchildren after school reopens in the post-COVID-19 pandemic period. Consistent with recently published studies, our results showed a high risk of myopia among Chinese schoolchildren in the post-COVID-19 pandemic period, which might be associated with the failure to change unhealthy lifestyles and eyesight habits developed during the pandemic 9–11. Several recent studies have also presented a significant decrease in mean SER among schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…However, these studies only provide evidence of changes in the distribution of refraction during the COVID-19 lockdown, so more research is needed on whether the lifestyles and eyesight habits developed during the COVID-19 lockdown still have an impact on the burden of myopia after the COVID-19 pandemic. To our knowledge, there are only three studies on myopia progression among Chinese schoolchildren in the post-COVID-19 pandemic period in Chengdu, Hangzhou and Wuhan, respectively 9–11. As there is a high variation across the regions of China, more longitudinal studies of myopia are still in urgent need.…”

Myopia Progression during COVID-19 Home Quarantine in Indonesia: A Retrospective Multicenter Cohort Study

“…Girls, in general tend to spend more time indoor doing near work activities, rather than doing outdoor physical activities. This was supported by previous studies, which also mentioned an increase in myopia prevalence and progression appearing in girls during the pandemic [17,19,23,24] .…”

Study on the Impact of Refractive Anisometropia on Intermittent Exotropia, Stereopsis, and Amblyopia in Children

“…Generally, when the refractive error difference between the two eyes is 0.25D, there will be a 0.5% difference in image size formed on the retina. Most scholars at home and abroad believe that when the refractive error difference between the two eyes is greater than 2.50D, which means that the difference in retinal image size between the two eyes exceeds 5%, it will affect binocular fusion function and lead to decreased stereoscopic acuity [9][10][11]. Many patients in clinical practice with refractive error less than 2.50D also experience varying degrees of decreased stereoscopic acuity.…”