BMC Public Health (Oct 2024)

Association between weekend catch-up outdoor duration and prevalence of myopia: evidence from a cross-sectional, multi-center study in China

  • Lu Ye,
  • Ying Wang,
  • Ying Sun,
  • Wu-jun Li,
  • Guo-yun Zhang,
  • Wen-jun Wang,
  • Mei-xia Ren,
  • Jun-cheng Gao,
  • Guan-chen Liu,
  • Yi-ming Guo,
  • Juan Huang,
  • Xin-xin Lu,
  • Jie Min,
  • Tuan-zheng Ran,
  • Si-xuan Li,
  • Zi-tong He,
  • Qi-ya Jing,
  • Pei-quan Wang,
  • Liu-qing Qu,
  • Yan-qi Yang,
  • Pan Ge,
  • Jian Zhang,
  • Mo-qi Lv,
  • Dang-xia Zhou

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-20466-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Abstract Background This study aimed at investigating the relationship between the weekend catch-up outdoor duration (WCOD) and prevalence of myopia among students in China. Methods This cross-sectional study recruited participants in 107 schools (six cities, 30 districts) from China from May to June 2021. Demographic characteristics (age, grade, sex, ethnicity, BMI, resident, and parents’ myopia), optically habits (bad writing habits, working/studying time per day, continuous working/studying time per day, and screen time per day) and outdoor duration (weekday and weekend) were obtained from questionnaire. WCOD was defined as outdoor time 1 h longer on weekends than on weekdays. Spherical equivalent (SE) of refractive error were measured with non-cycloplegic refraction. Adjusted multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between WCOD and prevalence of myopia. Results Students with myopia had shorter WCOD compared with those without myopia (P < 0.001). Adjusted multivariate logistic regression analyses showed negative associations between WCOD and prevalence of myopia in Chinese students, especially in students with WCOD of 2–3 h (OR = 0.577, P < 0.001) and 3–4 h (OR = 0.571, P = 0.004) when the weekday outdoor duration was 0.5–1 h, as well as students with WCOD of 2–3 h (OR = 0.614, P = 0.003) when the weekday outdoor duration was 1–2 h. Similar results were observed in students with high myopia. Students with high myopia had shorter WCOD compared with those without high myopia (P = 0.001). Negative associations between WCOD and prevalence of high myopia were significant in students with WCOD of 1–2 h when the weekday outdoor duration was < 0.5 h (OR = 0.585, P = 0.007) and 0.5–1 h (OR = 0.537, P = 0.018). Conclusion Our study, for the first time, reported that a WCOD have a potential to reduce the prevalence of myopia and high myopia in Chinese students.

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