Accommodative response and nearwork-induced transient myopia induced by simplified and traditional Chinese characters

Abstract

Background Epidemiologic studies found that the incidence of myopia is higher in Hong Kong and Taiwan regions of China than that of the mainland.So whether the general reading words with traditional Chinese characters and simplified characters is associated with myopia deserves attention.Objective This study was to test the accommodative responses and the regression levels of nearwork-induced transient myopia (NITM) induced by traditional complex Chinese characters and modern simplified ones in the same size,and to explore the differences and inherent relationship of the accommodative regulations based on the structures of the two types of Chinese character in causing reading triggered myopia.Methods Twenty two volunteers aged 24-29 years were included in this study with informed consent.The corrected vision of both eyes from each subject was ≥ 1.0 with a mean spherical equivalence of (-1.86±2.34)D.Accommodative response was tested with 4 different reading texts using the rapid sequence visual presenting model with the GRAND SEIKO-WV5500 infrared autorefractor,and this procedure was performed after full correction of refractive error.An initial test of looking at a certain distance was performed (as baseline),and then the subjects read intensively at the targets for 10 minutes at 33 cm to calculate the accommodative responses.After a 10 second pause,the ocular refractive status was obtained exactly at 15 seconds,20 seconds.The one-way ANOVA method was used to determine the effects of the different font types and sizes on the adjustive responses and the causation of NITM.Results Accommodative response induced by simplified and traditional Chinese characters showed an accommodative lag of (1.11 ±0.38),(0.95 ±0.43),(1.18 ±0.33) and (1.06±0.28) D,showing a significant difference among the 9 pt and 12 pt simplified and traditional Chinese characters (F =1.62,P =0.19),and significantly different accommodative lag values between 12 pt simplified characters and 9 pt traditional characters was found (t =5.56,P =0.02).NITM induced by the four different targets were (-0.45 ±0.45),(-0.47 ±0.46),(0.45 ±0.82) and (-0.46±0.78) D in the 4 types of characters,without a significant difference among them (F=0.01,P =0.99).Conclusions Near-distance reading causes accommodative lag regardless of the type of reading texts.The target demonstrated stimuli spatial frequency and font size play an impact on accommodative responses.NITM appears when one reads simplified or traditional Chinese for 10 minutes.The accommodative lag and NITM trend might be responsible for the onset or regression of myopia,yet it is not supportive for the hypothesis that reading traditional Chinese causes more strain since there is no difference between the two. Key words: Myopia; Accommodative response; Nearwork-induced transient myopia; Chinese character/simplified, traditional