Research
Visual Disability, Visual Function, and Myopia among Rural Chinese Secondary School Children: The Xichang Pediatric Refractive Error Study (X-PRES)‚ - Report 1
The purpose of this study was to evaluate visual acuity, visual function, and prevalence of refractive error among Chinese secondary-school children.
This was a cross-sectional school-based study conducted on 1892 rural secondary school students in Xichang, China.
The number of children with uncorrected, presenting, and corrected visual disability (6/12 in the better eye) was 41.2%, 19.3%, and 0.5%, respectively.
Myopia < −0.5, < −2.0, and < −6.0 D in both eyes was present in 62.3%, 31.1%, and 1.9% of the subjects, respectively.
Among the children with visual disability when tested without correction, 98.7% was due to refractive error, while only 53.8% (414/770) of these children had appropriate correction.
The girls had significantly (P < 0.001) more presenting visual disability and myopia < −2.0 D than did the boys.
More myopic refractive error was associated with worse self-reported visual function (ANOVA trend test, P < 0.001).
The visual disability in Chinese children was common and it is crucial conduct relevant studies in order to early vision correction.
This article was identified as a reference for a VII-commissioned systematic review on the Impact of URE on Children.