Astigmatism in school students of eastern China: prevalence, type, severity and associated risk factors

• Published in: BMC ophthalmology 2020-04, Vol.20 (1), p.155-12, Article 155
• Main Authors: Wang, Jianyong, Cheng, Qianqian Ellie, Fu, Xiaojin, Zhang, Ronghua, Meng, Jia, Gu, Fang, Li, Juanjuan, Ying, Gui-Shuang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Astigmatism; Astigmatism - diagnosis; Astigmatism - epidemiology; Child; Child, Preschool; China - epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Male; Prevalence; Refraction, Ocular - physiology; Risk Assessment - methods; Risk Factors; Schools; Severity of Illness Index; Students; Students - statistics & numerical data; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1471-2415; 1471-2415
• DOI: 10.1186/s12886-020-01425-w

China has been undergoing dramatic economic development, accompanied by increased education load on the young children. This study is to investigate the prevalence, type, severity, and associated risk factors of astigmatism in school students in eastern China. In this cross-sectional school-based study, students underwent refraction using NIDEK non-cycloplegic autorefractor. Astigmatism was defined as cylinder 1.5 diopter (D) or greater, and high astigmatism was defined as cylinder 3.0 D or greaterMultivariate regression models were used to determine factors associated with astigmatism. Among 4801 children (55% male) with mean age (±standard deviation) 12.3 (±3.8) years, 680 (14.2, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 13.2-15.2%) had astigmatism (85% were with-the-rule) and 103 (2.2, 95% CI: 1.8-2.6%) had high astigmatism. The prevalence rate of astigmatism was 7-8% in grades 4 or below, 15-16% in grades 6-8, 20% in grade 9, and 20-25% in grade 10 or above. In multivariate analyses, higher grade and male gender were associated with higher prevalence of astigmatism (all p