Impact of Outdoor Activities, Prevalence of Myopia & Its Associated Factors among Underprivileged Schoolchildren in Rural North India

Abstract

Significance: Outdoor activities are as preventive measures for myopia progression, so awareness should be increased about this among school-children and their parents in rural area. Purpose: The major goal of this study was to investigate the prevalence of myopia and its associated factors among underprivileged school-children. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of myopia among under-privileged school-children studying in 6^th to 12^th standards. A total of 2951 (mean age: 14±2.51 years) students (male=1594 & female=1372) were enrolled in this study. The subjects underwent a comprehensive eye examination.Information on the student’s lifestyle, habits, study hours, indoor activities and,outdoor playtime were collected using a self-structured questionnaire.The collected data were analyzed to explore the factors associated with myopia using the Bivariate correlation test and the adjusted odds ratio for each factor through SPSS-21. Results: Out of 5902 eyes, 562 (10.5%) eyes were having refractive errors; of which 58 (10.3%) were hypermetropic, 408 (72.6%) were myopic & 96 (17.1%) were astigmatic. Low myopia was the commonest myopia form in adolescent students (40.5%, N=165) as well as in adult students (59.5%, N=242). Commonly experienced symptoms were difficulty in seeing blackboard (76%, N=310) [OR=0.685, 95%, CI: 0.93-0.76], Headache (94.6%, N=386) [OR= 0.625, 95%, CI: 0.89-0.80], Eye-ache (58.1%, N=237) [OR=0.835, 95%, CI: 0.87- 0.82], Watery eye (76.2%, N=311) [OR=0.535, 95%, CI: 0.73- 0.61], Itching (51.4%, N=208) [OR=1.374, 95%, CI: 0.30- 0.19], Redness (4.2%, N=17) [OR=0.467, 95%, CI: 0.03-0.02] amongst the students. Higher age group students spent significantly more time on near work while less time on outdoor activities. All parameters were found to be statistically significant with the Pearson Bivariate correlation test. Conclusion: The prevalence of myopia tended to increase among children as age increases. More outdoor and less indoor activities had a protective effect on myopia.