RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Interventions recommended for myopia prevention and control among children and adolescents in China: a systematic review
JF British Journal of Ophthalmology
JO Br J Ophthalmol
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.
SP 160
OP 166
DO 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2021-319306
VO 107
IS 2
A1 Zhuoting Zhu
A1 Yanxian Chen
A1 Zachary Tan
A1 Ruilin Xiong
A1 Myra Beth McGuinness
A1 Andreas Müller
YR 2023
UL http://bjo.bmj.com/content/107/2/160.abstract
AB In 2018, a consortium of government bodies in China led by the Ministry of Education released the Comprehensive Plan to Prevent Nearsightedness among Children and Teenagers (CPPNCT), aiming to reduce the incidence of myopia and control myopic progression in China. Recommendations span from home-based to school-based interventions, including time outdoors, physical activity, light exposure, near-work activity, screen time, Chinese eye exercises, diet and sleep. To date, the levels of evidence for this suite of interventions have not been thoroughly investigated. This review has summarised the evidence of the interventions recommended by the CPPNCT in myopia prevention and control. Thus, the following statements are supposed by the evidence: (1) Increasing time outdoors and reducing near-work time are effective in lowering incident myopia in school-aged children. (2) All interventions have a limited effect on myopia progression. Ongoing research may lead to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of myopia development, the interaction of different interventions and recommendations, confounding variables and their true effect on myopia prevention, and the identification of those most likely to respond to specific interventions. This field may also benefit from longer-term studies of the various interventions or strategies covered within this review article, to better understand the persistence of treatment effects over time and explore more novel approaches to myopia control.