Outdoor playtime may prevent nearsightedness in kids
Nearsightedness may be prevented by a little outdoor playtime, a study conducted in Chinese schools suggest.
The addition of a daily outdoor activity class at school for three years for children in Guangzhou, China, resulted in a reduction in the rate of myopia (nearsightedness, the ability to see close objects more clearly than distant objects), according to a study in the September 15 issue of JAMA.
Mingguang He, M.D., Ph.D., of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China, and colleagues conducted a study in which children in grade 1 from 12 primary schools in Guangzhou, China.
Six intervention schools (952 students) and six control schools (951 students), were assigned to 1 additional 40-minute class of outdoor activities, added to each school day, and parents were encouraged to engage their children in outdoor activities after school hours, especially during weekends and holidays (intervention schools); or children and parents continued their usual pattern of activity (control schools). The average age of the children was 6.6 years.
The three-year cumulative incidence rate of myopia was 30.4% in the intervention group and 39.5% in the control group. Cumulative change in spherical equivalent refraction (myopic shift) after 3 years was significantly less in the intervention group than in the control group.
“Our study achieved an absolute difference of 9.1% in the incidence rate of myopia, representing a 23% relative reduction in incident myopia after 3 years, which was less than the anticipated reduction. However, this is clinically important because small children who develop myopia early are most likely to progress to high myopia, which increases the risk of pathological myopia. Thus a delay in the onset of myopia in young children, who tend to have a higher rate of progression, could provide disproportionate long-term eye health benefits,” the authors write.
“Further studies are needed to assess long-term follow-up of these children and the generalizability of these findings.”
Category: Features, Wellness and Complementary Therapies
