FP1603 : To evaluate the risk factors of increasing prevalence of myopia in school children of central India.

Dr. VishakhaWadibhasme,Dr.Yogesh Jibhakate

Introduction

Myopia is an ocular problem having increasing prevalence in school children all over world(1-4).The change in lifestyle of children spending more time in indoor activities and lack of physical activity lead to increase in ocular problems especially dryness and myopia. There are previous studies on incidence and progression of myopia in school children from East Asia, European countries and North India too(5-10). The aim of current study was to assess the risk factors of increasing prevalence of incidence and progression of myopia in school children of central India.

Method:

This is prospective study conducted in clinic in central India. All the children having myopia was enrolled in the study.The duration of study was 9 months from  June 2017 to April 2018.Vision assessment and complete slit lamp examination of children of subnormal vision was done by ophthalmologist. All the parents were informed about the study and questionnaire was given to them to fill. The questionnaire includes number of hours child spends in school, tuition, TV, mobile, outdoor activity, food habits and positive family history of myopia in the family.

Statistical analysis of data was done using Stata 14.0(college station, USA). Logistic regression analysis was carried out to find the adjusted odd ratio for various risk factors for progression of myopia. The factors adjusted for were: age, gender, type of school, socioeconomic status, intake of food and water, parental use of distance spectacles, hours of reading at school and home, watching television,mobile, computer and outdoor activity. The results were reported as Adjusted Odds Ratio (95% CI). A P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results:

A total number of 72 children were examined with mean age of 9+-2.2 years. Prevalence of myopia was 63%.Mean myopic spherical error was -1.85+-1.3 diopter. Prevalence of myopia was higher in urban school as compared to rural school(p<0.001),girls vs boys(p=0.004), positive family history(p<0.001),higher socioeconomic status(p=0.039),children studying more than 6 hours per day(p<0.001,watching television more than 3 hoursper day(p<0.001) and playing mobile> 2 hours per day (p<0.001).Children doing outdoor activities and playing >2 hours per day had inverse association with myopia .

Discussion

Our study is a prospective longitudinal study of myopic children visiting our clinic. As per our knowledge this is a first longitudinal study to report incidence and progression of myopia in children in central India. The result showed higher prevalence of myopia in urban school as compared to rural school.

This finding in our study could be due early exposure of urban children to electronic gadgets. Girls had higher prevalence than boys may be due to spending more hours in studying as a result of competitive atmosphere. Positive family history of myopia was a risk factor due to role of genetics. Less intake of water and preference to junk food also had association with myopia. The result also showed more than 6 hours of studying and spending more than 2 hours for TV and Mobile had significant positive association with progression of myopia. Children doing outdoor activities and playing more than 2 hours per day had inverse association with myopia.

The strength of our study is that the information provided is directly by the parents to the ophthalmologist. So the authenticity of information is true. Data was collected using questionnaire based system taking just 2 to 3 minutes.

The limitation of our study is small sample size.

Our study shows that myopia is a multifactorial disease and its awareness among parents is mandatory. The school teachers and parents should emphasize the importance of both studying and playing in minds of budding children. Ignorance to their changing lifestyle and habits may lead to increase ocular health problems and headaches at such an early age. Based on our study we recommend screening of children should be done in school. Parents should set example before them by spending more quality time with children rather on these electronic gadgets. This will not only take care of eye problem but also mental and physical well being of growing children.

Conclusion: Myopia is an emerging health problem due to change in life style of children and lack of healthy habits.

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