Ann Optom Contact Lens.  2024 Jun;23(2):64-70. 10.52725/aocl.2024.23.2.64.

Analysis of Refractive Error Changes in Elementary School Children under 13 Years of Age before and after COVID-19 Pandemic: A Hospital-Based Study

• Rho JD
• Choe WS
• Kim YJ
• Shin JH
• Kim TG

• KMID: 2556626
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.52725/aocl.2024.23.2.64

Abstract

Purpose
To analyze changes in refractive error among elementary school children under the age of 13 who visited an outpatient clinic for eye examinations before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
A retrospective analysis of medical records was conducted to calculate the spherical equivalent refractive error of the right eye for 3,854 children aged 6 to 12 who attended our ophthalmology department from 2016 to 2023. We analyzed the average refractive error and myopia prevalence by year and subsequently performed a subgroup analysis by dividing the children into two age groups: 6-9 years old and 10-12 years old. To provide insight into long-term trends, data from 4,351 subjects aged 6-12 years from the 4th, 5th (2008-2012), and 7th (2016) Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys were also analyzed for reference.
Results
The mean refractive error for subjects visiting our clinic throughout the study period was -1.51 ± 2.12 D. A trend of increasing myopic values in refractive error was observed from 2017 to 2021, with a more substantial change noted in 2020 compared to other years, though not reaching statistical significance. In the subgroup analysis, the change in refractive error for the 6-9-year-old group was more pronounced in 2020 but did not reach statistical significance, and no specific trend was identified in the 10-12-year-old group. Myopia prevalence exhibited a consistent increase since 2019 in the 6-9 age group, with a higher proportion of moderate myopia in 2020 compared to previous years. Conversely, no distinct trend was observed in the 10-12-year-old group.
Conclusions
Although statistical significance was not reached, it appears that the increase in indoor activities due to COVID-19 had an impact on the changes in refractive values for elementary school children, especially in the lower grades of elementary school in 2020.

Keyword

Children; COVID-19; Myopia; Refractive error