Myopia Progress and Related Factors in School-Aged Children in Qingdao

Purpose: Objective to investigate the progress and related factors for myopia in school-aged children in the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Qingdao. Methods: A total of 320 myopic students (aged 10-15 years; grade 3 to 8), who were willing to cooperate for a long time follow-up, were enrolled in the longitudinal survey. Participants underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic examination included uncorrected visual acuity, corrected visual acuity, slit lamp examination, and cycloplegic autorefraction in January 2017 and 2019, respectively. At the end of the follow-up, the information of near work, outdoor activities and other related factors were collected through a questionnaire. Qualified questionnaires were obtained in 296 (92.50%) students. All the data were entered, cleaned and analyzed by EpiData3.0. SPSS 20.0 statistical software was used for data general description, univariate and multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: 1. The baseline mean spherical equivalent of all students decreased from -2.29±1.16D in 2017 to -3.45±1.34D at the end of 2 years follow-up in 2019. The annual average growth of myopia was -0.58D ( t =7.708, P <0.001). The growth rate of myopia in Grade 6 was faster than that in other grades, and the difference was statistically significant ( F =8.236, P =0.003). 2. Both boys and girls showed significant myopia progress after 2 year follow-up. (Boys: t =6.342, P <0.001; Girls: t =4.888, P <0.001). However, we have not found significant difference in the growth rate between them.3. The proportion of two myopic parent was the highest in this sample, followed by one myopic parent, and no myopic parent was the lowest ( c2 =27.919, P <0.001). 4. The higher the grade, the more time the students spend on near work ( F =2.988, P =0.012) and the less time they spend on outdoor activities. ( F =2.290, P =0.046). We did not find that the myopia progression was related with Age, Sex, Parent myopia, Near work time and Outdoor activity time. Conclusions: In this study, the Grade 6 adolescents had relatively rapid progression for myopia than other age groups. There was no significant difference in the progression of myopia between girls and boys. We did not find that the progression of myopia was related with Age, Sex, Parental myopia, Near work time and Outdoor activities time.