Article Text
PDF
Abstract
Background The impacts of social restrictions for COVID-19 on children’s vision and lifestyle remain unknown.
Aims To investigate myopia incidence, spherical equivalent refraction (SER) and lifestyle changes among schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods Two separate longitudinal cohorts of children aged 6–8 years in Hong Kong were included. The COVID-19 cohort was recruited at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, whereas the pre-COVID-19 cohort was recruited before the COVID-19 pandemic. All children received ocular examinations, and answered a standardised questionnaire relating to their lifestyle, including time spent on outdoor activities and near work, both at baseline and at follow-up visits.
Results A total of 1793 subjects were recruited, of whom 709 children comprised the COVID-19 cohort with 7.89±2.30 months of follow-up, and 1084 children comprised the pre-COVID-19 cohort with 37.54±3.12 months of follow-up. The overall incidence was 19.44% in the COVID-19 cohort, and 36.57% in pre-COVID-19 cohort. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the change in SER and axial length was –0.50±0.51 D and 0.29±0.35 mm, respectively; the time spent on outdoor activities decreased from 1.27±1.12 to 0.41±0.90 hours/day (p<0.001), while screen time increased from 2.45±2.32 to 6.89±4.42 hours/day (p<0.001).
Conclusions We showed a potential increase in myopia incidence, significant decrease in outdoor time and increase in screen time among schoolchildren in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results serve to warn eye care professionals, and also policy makers, educators and parents, that collective efforts are needed to prevent childhood myopia—a potential public health crisis as a result of COVID-19.
- COVID-19
- Child health (paediatrics)
- epidemiology
Data availability statement
Deidentified participant data are available upon reasonable request from JCSY, ORCID: 0000-0002-5835-208X.
This article is made freely available for personal use in accordance with BMJ’s website terms and conditions for the duration of the covid-19 pandemic or until otherwise determined by BMJ. You may use, download and print the article for any lawful, non-commercial purpose (including text and data mining) provided that all copyright notices and trade marks are retained.
https://bmj.com/coronavirus/usageStatistics from Altmetric.com
Data availability statement
Deidentified participant data are available upon reasonable request from JCSY, ORCID: 0000-0002-5835-208X.
Footnotes
XZ and SSLC contributed equally.
Contributors XZ carried out the data collection, analysis and interpretation, prepared the tables and figures and wrote the main manuscript. SSLC carried out the data collection, analysis and interpretation, prepared the tables and figures and wrote the main manuscript. H-NC carried out the data collection and analysis and interpretation, prepared the tables and figures and edited the manuscript. YZ carried out the data analysis and interpretation, prepared the tables and figures and edited the main manuscript. YMW carried out the data collection and interpretation, prepared the tables and figures and edited the main manuscript. BHY carried out the data analysis and interpretation, prepared the tables and figures and critically revised the main manuscript. KWK carried out the data collection and interpretation and critically revised the main manuscript. MY carried out the data analysis and interpretation, prepared the tables and figures and reviewed the main manuscript. C-YC carried out the data analysis and interpretation, prepared the tables and figures and critically revised the main manuscript. ALY carried out the data collection and interpretation and critically revised the main manuscript. MYWK carried out the data interpretation and critically revised the main manuscript. PI carried out the data interpretation and critically revised the main manuscript. KK-LC carried out the data interpretation,and critically revised the main manuscript. CCT carried out the data collection and interpretation and critically revised the main manuscript. LJC carried out the data collection, analysis and interpretation, prepared the tables and figures and critically revised the main manuscript. C-PP carried out the data collection, analysis and interpretation, prepared the tables and figures and critically revised the main manuscript. JCSY conceived the study, carried out the data collection, analysis and interpretation, prepared the tables and figures and critically revised the manuscript.
Funding This study was supported in part by CUHK Jockey Club Children Eye Care Programme, the General Research Fund (GRF), Research Grants Council, Hong Kong (14111515 and 14103419 (JCSY)); the Collaborative Research Fund (CRF), Research Grants Council, Hong Kong (C7149-20G, (PI, JCSY, MYWK)); Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF), Innovation and Technology Commission, Hong Kong (PRP/042/19FX, JCSY); Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF), Hong Kong (5160836, (LJC) and 07180826, (XZ), and the direct grants of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, (4054193 (LJC) and 4054121 and 4054199 (JCSY)); the UBS Optimus Foundation Grant 8984 (JCSY); and the Centaline Myopia Fund (JCSY).
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.
Linked Articles
- Highlights from this issue