Abstract
Purpose: To investigate the association of myopia and other risk factors with anxiety and depression among Chinese university freshmen during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Tianjin Medical University from October 2020 to December 2020. Ophthalmic examination of the eyes was performed by an experienced ophthalmologist. Detailed information on depression, anxiety, and other risk factors was collected via the Self-rating Anxiety Scale and Self-rating Depression Scale.Results: The overall prevalence of anxiety and depression in our study was 10.34 and 25.13%, respectively. The prevalence of myopia and high myopia as 92.02 and 26.7%, respectively. There were significant associations between anxiety and spectacle power [odds ratios (OR) = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.81–0.98, P = 0.019], sphere equivalent (OR = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.81– 0.98, P = 0.025), sleep time (OR = 0.53; 95% CI: 0.35–0.79, P = 0.002), and body mass index (OR = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.86–0.99, P = 0.047). In the multivariable linear regression models, spectacle power (β = −0.43; 95% CI: −0.68 to −0.19, P = 0.001) and sphere equivalent (β = −0.36; 95% CI: −0.60 to −0.11, P = 0.005) were negatively associated with anxiety scores, whereas axial length (β = 0.54; 95% CI: 0.02–1.07, P = 0.044) was positively correlated with anxiety scores. Every 1 h decrease in sleep time was associated with a 0.12-point increase in depression score.Conclusion: Myopia was associated with anxiety and anxiety scores. The greater the degree of myopia, the higher the anxiety score. However, myopia was not found to be associated with depression. The results highlight the importance of providing psychological support to students with myopia during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
Myopia has become a major health problem worldwide owing to its increasing prevalence in the past few decades [1]
A total of 71.60% (547/764) of students had an axial length (AL) longer than 26 mm, which was considered the threshold for higher risk of myopia
We found that spectacle power (OR = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.81–0.98; P = 0.019), SE (OR = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.81–0.98; P = 0.025), sleep time (OR = 0.53; 95% CI: 0.35–0.79; P = 0.002), and Body mass index (BMI) (OR = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.86–0.99; P = 0.047) were significantly associated with anxiety status
Summary
Myopia has become a major health problem worldwide owing to its increasing prevalence in the past few decades [1]. China is one of the countries with a high prevalence of myopia [3]. Based on data from a myopia study in Fenghua City, the prevalence of high myopia in China has nearly doubled from 7.9 to 16.6% from 2001 to 2015 [4]. In Taiwan, the prevalence of myopia and high myopia in a sample of ∼4,000 university freshmen was 91.3 and 23.5% in 1988 and 95.9 and 38.9% in 2005 [5]. The increased digital screen time and the overall time spent on near work, together with the decreasing outdoor time, increased the risk of myopia progression in students [6]. Accelerated myopic progression has been reported during the COVID-19 pandemic [7,8,9]
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