An investigation examines whether the large amount of time at home is increasing the risk of myopia for young children.
The pandemic has led to a number of changes in children’s lives, including going to school at home, socializing less with their peers, and spending more time indoors. A new investigation in JAMA Ophthalmology examined whether the period of home confinement caused by the pandemic led to an increased burden of myopia.1
The researchers ran a prospective cross-sectional study that used the school-based photoscreening results from children aged 6 to 13 years in elementary schools in Feicheng, China. The results from the period spent in home confinement were compared with data from previous years. During the testing the spherical equivalent refraction was noted for each child.
A total of 123,535 children were included in the analysis, with 64,335 being boys. Test results from 194,904 photoscreener examinations were included in the study. The researchers found that there had been a significant myopic shift (approximately −0.3 diopters [D]) in the 2020 photoscreenings among the younger children aged 6 (−0.32 D), 7 (−0.28 D), and 8 (−0.29 D) years, when compared to the previous years of 2015-2019. Additionally, the prevalence of myopia found in 2020 through photoscreen exams was higher than the previous highest prevalence of myopia in 2015-2019 for children aged 6 (21.5% vs 5.7%), 7 (26.2% vs 16.2%), and 8 (37.2% vs 27.7%) years. For children aged 9 to 13 years, the differences in both spherical equivalent refraction and the prevalence of myopia in 2020 when compared to previous years was minimal.
The investigators concluded that being confined to home due to the pandemic seemed to be linked to a high level of myopic shift in children aged 6 to 8 years. They speculated that younger children may be more sensitive to any change in the environment than older children because the younger children are at a critical point in the potential development of myopia. However, they did note that some caution should be used when considering these links because of the lack of orthokeratology history or ocular biometry data for the participants. Further research could help provide further proof and eliminate these cautions.
Reference
1. Wang J, Li Y, Musch D, et al. Progression of myopia in school-aged children after COVID-19 home confinement. JAMA Ophthalmol. January 14, 2021. Epub ahead of print. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2020.6239
Fluoxetine helps refractory nocturnal enuresis but not for long
March 29th 2023A 12-week study in Egypt of the efficacy of fluoxetine (a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) in children with treatment-refractory nocturnal enuresis (NE) found that though the treatment achieved a good initial response, it was not sustainable.
Meet the Board: Vivian P. Hernandez-Trujillo, MD, FAAP, FAAAAI, FACAAI
May 20th 2022Contemporary Pediatrics sat down with one of our newest editorial advisory board members: Vivian P. Hernandez-Trujillo, MD, FAAP, FAAAAI, FACAAI to discuss what led to her career in medicine and what she thinks the future holds for pediatrics.
Are some patients predisposed to avascular necrosis after hip surgery?
March 14th 2023Although avascular necrosis (AVN) is believed to be an iatrogenic complication following treatment of developmental dysplasia of the hip, an investigation in China found 2 characteristics associated with the condition: the likelihood of AVN increases with both the grade of dislocation and of underdevelopment of the ossific nucleus.
Meet the board: Jessica L. Peck, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC, CNE, CNL, FAANP, FAAN
April 22nd 2022In the latest episode of our podcast series, Jessica L. Peck, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC, CNE, CNL, FAANP, FAAN shares why she got into medicine, the myths of pediatric, and what the future may hold for the specialty.