Abstract
Purpose: :
To present extra-curricular activities of children with myopia, to investigate whether these activities are associated with the degree of myopia and to compare these findings to historical data.
Methods: :
32 myopic children age 10 to 16 years (mean 13.2 ± 1.84 years with a spherical equivalent of -2.85 ± 1.48 D, ranging from -0.63 to -6.00 D) participated and their parents completed a survey on the child’s weekly time spent reading/studying for school assignments, reading for pleasure, watching TV, using computer/playing video games at home, and engaging in sports. Subjective refraction determined the degree of myopia. For historical data, reported values were compared to Mutti et al. (IOVS 2002;43:3633-3640), which used a comparable survey and included children of a similar age (13.5 ± 0.5 years).
Results: :
The average time the children spent watching TV and using computers/playing video games was 12.5 ± 8.5 and 9.3 ± 6.7 hours/week, respectively. Compared to Mutti et al., these times were significantly greater (p=0.04 and p<0.01 for watching TV and using computer/playing video games, respectively). Average time spent on reading or studying for school was 7.72 ± 5.27 hours/week, which was significantly less than Mutti et al. (11.2 ± 7.2, p=0.02). There were no significant differences with respect to the time spent on reading for pleasure or engaging in sport activities (both p>0.05). The degree of myopia was inversely associated with the time spent on sport activities (r=0.42, p=0.02). No correlations were found between the degree of myopia and near-work activities (r=0.0-0.3, all p>0.05).
Conclusions: :
The time spent in activities such as TV, computers/video games and reading in myopic children appears to have increased over time and more of this time is being spent watching TV and using computers/playing video games. Our findings also suggest that children with higher myopia tend to be less engaged in sport activities.