Children with myopia recommended to be reexamined within six months
A boy has his eyes checked at an eye protection event held at Shanghai Science Hall.
It is better for parents to take children with nearsightedness to hospital for a reexamination within six months of the initial diagnosis, a report on children's myopia prevention and control suggests.
The report was jointly released by the Shanghai Science and Technology Association, German optics manufacturer Zeiss, and the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University ahead of the 28th National Eye Care Day today.
Statistics previously released by the Ministry of Education showed the overall myopia rate of children and adolescents across the country in 2020 was as high as 52.7 percent.
The report surveyed more than 1,500 families, 15 medical institutions and 28 ophthalmologists, interpreting the new understanding of precise myopia prevention and treatment, analyzing new trends and providing scientific solutions for the public.
The guidance for myopia prevention and control can help to improve the eye health of children and adolescents.
According to the report, more than 93 percent of doctors advise parents to pay more attention to the axial length of their children's eyes.
Data show that about 62 percent parents are more concerned with the immediate vision loss and only 44 percent pay attention to the axial length of the eye.
However, the axial length of the eye can assist in judging the progress of myopia and warning of related risks.
The report found that some parents still have misconceptions about the prevention and control of myopia.
Sixty percent of doctors observed that by the time parents first pay attention to their children's vision problems, the degree of myopia may have already grown to more than 100 degrees.
All the doctors participating in the survey recommended that myopic children and adolescents should have a reexamination at least once every six months.
However, among the interviewed patients, only 56.8 percent of their children had a re-examination in that time.
The report calls for measures including improving parents' awareness, improving digital assistance, and guiding hierarchical diagnosis and treatment, to increase the rate of patients following doctor's orders for re-examinations, as well as helping in the long-term management of myopia.
Zhou Xingtao, Dean of the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University and a chief reviewer of the report, said accurate policy implementation is the key to the prevention and treatment of myopia, while scientific research is the basis of precise policy implementation.
"This year's report covers a wide range , which is rich in content and more representative, providing an important basis for the development of precise prevention and treatment of myopia and the formulation of related policies," Zhou said.
In order to further improve the awareness of children and adolescents' eye health, the organizers jointly created a variety of activities such as an AI creative art exhibition about eye care day, a popular science market in Sinan Mansions, public welfare eye health checks, and children's workshops on prevention and control of myopia.
