Why the pandemic has led to an increase in cases of myopia in children

Scientists in Hong Kong have detected that the lockdown of many countries due to the novel coronavirus pandemic is affecting children’s vision. According to a study published in British Journal of Ophthalmology There was an increase in cases of myopia which were linked not only to greater exposure to screens, but also the inability to go outside.

Concerning the entire population, a report from the The World Health Organization (WHO) points out that by 2050, one in two people in the world will be nearsighted. Likewise, it is estimated that due to the current health scenario, these projections could be accelerated, due to environmental factors linked to the massive use of technological devices, despite the fact that the origin of myopia is mainly hereditary.

As he explained last March to Infobae the ophthalmologist Germán Bianchi, head of corneal transplantation at the Dr. Nano clinic, “Nearsightedness is a refractive error in which images are focused in front of the retina and not on it, making it difficult to see from a distance. A person who suffers from nearsightedness clearly sees nearby objects, but has a blurry perception of those at a distance. Also, it can cause headaches, strabismus, visual discomfort ”.

“It is characterized by the fact that the eyeball is elongated or that the cornea is more curved than normal. Nearsightedness can affect both children and adults, is commonly diagnosed in boys ages 8 to 12, and usually gets worse in adolescence. Then, between 20 and 40 years old, it is less usual that he progresses. People with a family history are more likely to have it. There is a hereditary burden which can predispose, above all, to high myopia ”.

“Confined spaces, the main use of near vision (for example, screens) and low exposure to the sun are potentially factors favoring the progression or aggravation of myopia”, he stressed.

In September 2020, countries began having measures to restrict travel which, to a greater or lesser extent, required people to stay at home. In many places, schools were closed and children had to attend classes via Internet communications at best. More than 180 countries have been the ones to close schools to minimize infections. It is estimated that one billion school-aged children have stopped attending face-to-face classes.

This meant that the time the children could spend outdoors was much less than usual. It should also be noted that the research was conducted in Hong Kong, a very densely populated city where people mostly live in high-rise buildings where there is little outdoor space.

Scientists of the Hong Kong Children’s Eye Study (HKCES) observed that the time children spent watching closely increased, both due to the use of screens and being locked in their homes, which is directly related to myopia. This eye disease occurs when the shape of the eye changes causing incorrect refraction of light rays, focusing images in front rather than on the surface of the retina.

According to the researchers, myopia in children is important because it increases the risk that they will suffer blindness or irreversible vision problems in the future.

The study conducted by the HKCES team aimed to show that changes in the boys’ lifestyle due to the pandemic may have impacted the health of their vision. The scientists analyzed the eyes of 1,793 children who were part of the HKCES. This is an ongoing population study of eye conditions in children aged 6 to 8 years.

Of the total, 709 of the children were enrolled as volunteers for the study at the start of the pandemic, from December 2019 to January 2020, and were followed for approximately 8 months; while 1,084 others had entered the study before the onset of the pandemic and had been monitored for about 3 years.

Ophthalmologists measured children’s visual acuity, that is, their ability to see clearly, and completed questionnaires about their lifestyle, including time spent outdoors and at nearby jobs , when entering the study and during subsequent visits to the clinics.

Around 1 in 5 (19.5%) of the boys in the first group, called the COVID-19 group, developed myopia in just 6 months, between January and August 2020, compared to about 1 in 3 (37%) of those in the pre- COVID-19 group over a three-year period.

Analyzes took into account age, gender, length of follow-up period, parental myopia and time spent outdoors and in nearby jobs, the number of new cases of myopia was higher among children of the COVID-19 group.

The estimated incidence of myopia at one year was 28%, 27% and 26%, respectively, for children aged 6, 7 and 8 in the COVID-19 group, compared to 17%, 16% and 15%, respectively , for kids. ages 6, 7 and 8 in the pre-COVID-19 group.

According to the results, the changes coincided with a reduction in the time children spend outdoors, from about 1 hour and 15 minutes to about 24 minutes per day, and an increase in screen time of about 2 minutes. , 5 hours a day to about 7 hours a day. .

This same team of scientists had conducted other studies with which they could compare the present. This is how he compared the current group of COVID-19 with the results of his previous study, which analyzed the development of myopia in children of the same age in Hong Kong.

In the previous study, it was found that 13% of children developed vision disease within a period of one year. In contrast, 19.5% of the COVID-19 group in the current study began to experience nearsightedness within about 8 months, placing more weight on the relationship between the pandemic and an increased risk of myopia, the researchers said.

This is an observational study and as such cannot establish the cause, to which should be added that the research included data from questionnaires, which is based on the recall. Additionally, the results may not reflect the impact of COVID-19 in other parts of the world, where policies on social distancing, quarantine and school closures may be different, the researchers themselves warned.

“Despite all these insurmountable limits of the study, the first results continue to show an alarming progression of myopia which justifies the adoption of appropriate corrective measures”, they stressed.

The studies “serve to warn eye health professionals, as well as policy makers, educators and parents, that collective efforts are needed to prevent childhood myopia, a possible public health crisis in the wake of COVID -19 “.

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