Effects of physical activity and use of digital devices on visual acuity in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study.

Purpose: To determine the association between poor visual acuity, the use of digital devices and physical activity (PA) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A total of 327,646 Chinese children and adolescents were included in the analysis using a cluster random sampling method; this is a case-control study, of those 144,708 children and adolescents with poor visual acuity were included in the case group, while 182,938 who did not have poor visual acuity were included in the control group. A logistic regression model was used to assess the contribution of PA and the use of digital devices to poor visual acuity. Results: A total of 144,708 children and adolescents experienced poor visual acuity during the COVID-19 pandemic; 54.8% were male, and 55.2% live in rural areas. Compared to controls, children and adolescents with poor visual acuity exhibited more time for the use of digital devices (4.51 ± 2.44 vs. 3.79 ± 2.34 for cases and controls, respectively; P < 0.001) and PA (3.07 ± 0.92 vs. 2.85 ± 1.00 for cases and controls, respectively; P < 0.001). During the COVID-19 pandemic, risk factors related to poor visual acuity among children and adolescents included the use of digital devices (OR 1.135; 95% CI 1.132-1.139), and PA (OR 1.269; 95%CI 1.259-1.278). The results of interaction analysis show that for children and adolescents aged 12 to 17, the positive association between the use of digital devices and poor visual acuity decreased. The interaction effect between PA and digital devices is 0.987. Conclusions: Children and adolescents were at risk of poor visual acuity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Extended use of the digital devices increased the risk of poor visual acuity, especially for children aged 6-11 years. But the risk of poor visual acuity among children and adolescents decreases as the time spent on PA increases.

Effects of information sources on public preventive behaviors in health emergencies: Evidence from a digital epidemiologic study during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction It has been approved that information sources would affect public behaviors. However, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, this influence was enhanced and showed a distinctive pattern among different populations, which has been less noticed before. We aimed to investigate the potential roles of different information sources in COVID-19 preventive behaviors of different publics. Methods A cross-sectional online survey with 11,190 participants from 33 province-level regions in China was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sociodemographic characteristics, COVID-19 preventive behaviors, and information sources for COVID-19-related information were assessed. A mixed linear model was used to analyze risk factors of COVID-19 preventive behaviors. The effects of different information sources on COVID-19 prevention behaviors of different publics were analyzed. Results Generally, the Chinese public had good COVID-19 preventive behaviors, and the top three COVID-19 preventive behaviors with the higher action rate were avoiding eat bushmeat (76.1%), a healthy diet (74.8%), and avoiding contact with people with symptoms of respiratory diseases (73.0%). About information sources, 12320 telephone (National Public Health Hotline) (−0.62, 95% CI: −0.94 to −0.31) and acquaintances consulting (−1.00, 95% CI: −1.31 to −0.69) were negatively associated with COVID-19 preventive behaviors, while internet resources, family doctors, hospitals, and community health centers were positively associated with COVID-19 preventive behaviors (1.00 vs. 0.47 vs. 0.46 vs. 0.33, P < 0.05). For older adults, accessing to COVID-19-related information through family doctors and community health centers were positively associated with COVID-19 preventive behaviors. For the non-educated, family doctors and community health centers had positive effects on their COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Family doctors and internet resources were positively associated with COVID-19 preventive behaviors among those earning 5,000 yuans and above. The effects of family doctors, hospitals, and internet resources were higher for COVID-19 preventive behaviors of urban publics than for rural publics. Finally, the effect of internet resources on COVID-19 preventive behaviors of females was lower than males. Conclusions Obtaining COVID-19-related information through internet resources had the most significant effect on COVID-19 preventive behaviors, but was not significant among publics with old age, low education, low income, and living in rural area.