Prevalence and trend of low vision among primary and secondary school students in Wuhan from 2019 to 2020 / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To provide a largescale assessment the prevalence of poor vision in 2020 among children and adolescents in Wuhan City, Hubei province and to provide basis for healthy vision promotion.@*Methods@#This crosssectional epidemiological study was conducted among 156 783 students, who lived in Wuhan during the COVID-19 period participated the vision screening through the online applet designed by Wuhan Center for Adolescent Poor Vision Prevetion and Control under the guidance of their guardians between June 19 and July 6, 2020. The demographic information and daily hours spent on various activities in the past week were investigated. The corresponding visual acuity data of students in 2019 before the COVID-19 outbreak was extracted from school vision monitoring records for each semester, which was measured by the experienced eye care professionals.@*Results@#The detection rate of poor vision (51.04%) in 2020 was significantly higher than that in 2019(43.04%)( χ 2=68 944.95, P <0.01). After adjustment for covariates, the odds ratio and 95% confidence interval for poor vision were 1.17(1.13-1.20), 1.07(1.04-1.10), 0.67 (0.65-0.69) and 0.62(0.60-0.64) in students with online class time, recreational screen time, indoor and outdoor activity time in the highest tertile, compared with the lowest tertile groups.@*Conclusion@#Increased rate of poor vision among primary and secondary schoool students deserves further concern. It is necessary to strengthen intervention of eyesight protection. Policies and programs aimed at improving opportunities for physical activities and decreasing multiple screen behaviors should be given priority.