Relationship between screen time and myopia in children aged 11-14 years in China / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To explore relationship between screen time and myopia in children aged 11-14 years in China.@*Methods@#The data were extracted from "National Nutrition and Health Systematic Survey and Application for 0-18 Years Old Children". A total of 12 397 children aged 11-14 years old from 14 provinces and 28 districts/counties in seven regions of China were surveyed by using multi stage stratified random sampling method. Daily screen time and visual acuity information were collected through a questionnaire.@*Results@#The myopia rate of 11-14 years old children in China was 45.0%, among which the rate of girls was higher than that of boys, and the rate of urban was higher than that of rural, and it increased with age ( χ 2=178.82,79.25, 495.96 , P <0.01). The daily screen time median of 12 397 children was 40.0 minutes, with boys(40.0 min) longer than girls( 35.0 min ) and urban children(40 min) longer than rural children(33.0 min) ( χ 2=20.86，102.68， P <0.01). The myopia rate of boys ( 42.5 %) with daily screen time greater than or equal to 60 minutes was higher than that of boys (36.4%) with daily screen time less than 60 minutes, and the myopia rate of girls (55.6%) with daily screen time greater than or equal to 60 minutes was higher than that of girls (48.0%)( χ 2=23.62，34.15， P <0.01). After adjusting for age, gender, region, time of medium and high intensity physical activity, intake of sugary food and sugary beverages, daily sleep time, multivariable Logistic regression model showed that girls with daily screen time greater than or equal to 60 minutes ( OR=1.14, 95%CI =1.03-1.27) had a higher risk of myopia than those with less than 60 minutes. After adjusting for confounding factors, there was no correlation between daily screen time and the degree of myopia in boys or girls( P >0.05).@*Conclusion@#Daily screen time greater than or equal to 60 minutes may be a risk factor for myopia in girls aged 11 to 14 years old. Given the complexity of the factors that affect vision, researches are needed to examine the relationship between screen time and myopia.