An Epidemiologic Study on Myopia among School Children of 6 to 18 years old in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Chu, Pao-yi, 朱珀儀
• Other Authors: Chien-Jen Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 1997
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/77068604651540625919

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 公共衛生學系 === 85 === Subjects and Methods. In this epidemiologic study on myopia of 6 to 18 years old students in Taiwan area in 1995, we selected 11,173 students from 7 strata of townships wiyh different level of economic development. The ocular refraction of study subjects was determined by retinoscopy. In order to explore the risk factors associated with myopia, a self- administered structur-ed questionnaire was used to collect the data. Results. The prevalence of myopia was found to increase with age and differ in different sampling strata and school types. Female students had a higher prevalence of myopia than male students. The mean diopter of right eyes was +0.54D at age 6-7, -0.92D at age 11-12, -2.25Dat age 14-15. At age 17-18, the mean diopter of right eyes was -2.28D in vocational school students, -3.92D in senior high school students, and -4.51D in five-year junior college school students. The prevalence of myopia of right eyes at age 6-7 was 12%, 54% at age 11-12, 75% at age 14-15, and 85% at age 17-18. Using general linear models and logistic regression models to analyze the data, myopia were found to be associated with the light in classrooms, duration of doing homework, residential area, myopia status of parents and siblings, distance of watching TV, grade in class, reading when lying, and sleeping time. Conclusion and Suggestion. The myopia prevalence of school children in Taiwan increases with age. Environmental, hereditary and educational factors are associated with myopia. Further studies and stratagem of vision care aim to prevent myopia are needed.