The Research on the Paths of Popular Science Education about Myopia Prevention and Control among College Students in the Context of Shifting the Focus Forward

Currently, the number of myopic people in China has reached as high as 600 million, and it shows a trend of “early onset, high incidence, and a high degree of severity”. The issue of myopia among children and adolescents has attracted widespread attention from all sectors of society. Comprehensive myopia prevention and control efforts have been launched nationwide. Popular science education, vision screening, and improving visual environments are effective measures for preventing myopia. However, among the target audience for comprehensive myopia prevention and control, the preschool children group has been neglected, and the work of myopia prevention and control for this group has been significantly weakened and marginalized. Due to insufficient awareness of prevention and control, the hyperopia reserve in the preschool children group is being continuously depleted, leading to the early onset of myopia. In light of this situation, the focus of myopia prevention and control needs to shift forward, and it is worth exploring and pondering how college students with a background in optometry can develop entertaining and engaging popular science education materials and methods.

Parental awareness on myopia prevention and control among 350 children

AIM:To understand the current situation of parental perspectives,knowledge,and practices concerning myopia prevention and control for both pre-and school-aged children.METHODS:This study was a cross-sectional survey that involved children aged 0 to 15y and their parents.Participants were required to respond to an online questionnaire by scanning a quick response(QR)code.The questionnaire consisted of 25 tick-box questions and was open to response from December 22,2022,to January 5,2023.The dioptric traits of the children,the visual status and educational background of the parents,the parental perspectives towards myopia and its risks,and the parents’knowledge and practices related to myopia prevention and control were recorded and measured.The Chi-square test and binomial logistic regression were used for statistics.RESULTS:Totally 350 parents responded to the questionnaire.The prevalence and severity of myopia among the surveyed children exhibited a positive correlation with advancing age(P<0.001 and P=0.004,respectively).Nearly half of parents with myopic children considered myopia did not pose any health threat and could be effectively corrected(P<0.001).Parents who held master’s or doctoral degree demonstrated a better understanding of children’s vision standards for each age group(P=0.001),and 31.63% of them could undergo initial vision screening for their children during the age of 0 to 3y while parents with bachelor’s degree(34.04%)and below(32.43%)mainly initiated the vision examination for their children at the age of 4 to 6y(P=0.05).Parents with master’s or doctoral degree also exhibited more rational practices concerning outdoor time(P=0.048)and sleep time(P=0.044).No other significant discrepancy among the different educational groups in additional conceptions of myopia,such as hyperopia reserve,axis length,and corneal curvature alterations.Most parents preferred to employ conventional interventions,such as enhancing indoor lighting condition(80.00%)and ensuring appropriate reading posture and distance(71.71%).CONCLUSION:The current status of parental knowledge and practices about myopia prevention and control remains outdated and deficient.The administrative department should implement efficacious and adaptable measures to enhance parental awareness and foster their commitment towards myopia prevention and control.

The national multi-center artificial intelligent myopia prevention and control project

In recent years,the incidence of myopia has increased at an alarming rate among children and adolescents in China.The exploration of an effective prevention and control method for myopia is in urgent need.With the development of information technology in the past decade,artificial intelligence with the Internet of Things technology(AIoT)is characterized by strong computing power,advanced algorithm,continuous monitoring,and accurate prediction of long-term progression.Therefore,big data and artificial intelligence technology have the potential to be applied to data mining of myopia etiology and prediction of myopia occurrence and development.More recently,there has been a growing recognition that myopia study involving AIoT needs to undergo a rigorous evaluation to demonstrate robust results.

Design,methodology,and baseline of whole city‑million scale children and adolescents myopia survey(CAMS)in Wenzhou,China

Background:Myopia is the most common visual impairment in children and adolescents worldwide.This study described an economical and effective population-based screening pipeline and performed the project of a million scale children and adolescents myopia survey(CAMS),which will shed light on the further study of myopia from the level of epidemiology and precision medicine.Methods:We developed a novel population-based screening pattern,an intelligent screening process and internetbased information transmission and analysis system to carry out the survey consisting of school children in Wenzhou,China.The examination items include unaided distance visual acuity,presenting distance visual acuity,and noncycloplegic autorefraction.Myopia and high myopia were defined as spherical equivalent(SE)≤−1.00 diopters(D)and SE≤−6.00 D,respectively.Next,the reports of the vision checking were automatically sent to parents and the related departments.The CAMS project will be done two to four times annually with the support of the government.An online eyesight status information management system(OESIMS)was developed to construct comprehensive and efficient electronic vision health records(EVHRs)for myopia information inquiry,risk pre-warning,and further study.Results:The CAMS completed the first-round of screening within 30 days for 99.41%of Wenzhou students from districts and counties,in June 2019.A total of 1,060,925 participants were eligible for CAMS and 1,054,251(99.37%participation rate)were selected through data quality control,which comprised 1305 schools,and 580,609,251,050 and 170,967 elementary,middle,and high school students.The mean age of participants was 12.21±3.32 years(6-20 years),the female-to-male ratio was 0.82.The prevalence of myopia in elementary,middle,and high school students was 38.16%,77.52%,and 84.00%,respectively,and the high myopia incidence was 0.95%,6.90%,and 12.98%.Conclusions:The CAMS standardized myopia screening model involves automating large-scale information collection,data transmission,data analysis and early warning,thereby supporting myopia prevention and control.The entire survey reduced 90%of staff,cost,and time consumption compared with previous surveys.This will provide new insights for decision support for public health intervention.