Many negative consequences of a Covid infection are already known.
But not only the disease itself, changes in lifestyle are also harmful to health.
Corona lockdowns and contact restrictions have lured quite a few to the couch. Fitness studios were closed and sports clubs, dance and yoga studios had to do without their visitors. But not only fitness was negatively affected by the corona pandemic. Eye health did not benefit either. According to scientists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the number of myopic children increased during the pandemic. The main reason the researchers assume:
The children spent far less time outdoors
. Spending too much time in front of the PC monitor, in front of the television and frequently looking at the smartphone can also damage the development of the eye.
For their study, the researchers led by Jason Yam examined the eyes of a total of 1,793 children between the ages of six and eight, according to the
Spiegel
.
The study leaders divided the children into two groups: the data from one group was collected before the corona pandemic, the other group was examined shortly before the pandemic and eight months later.
The research focused on the one hand on measuring the eyesight of school children
.
On the other hand, they were asked about their media usage habits.
Eye health survey
Children were more likely to become nearsighted during Corona
The study result:
Around every fifth child developed nearsightedness (medical myopia) during the Corona period.
In the other group it was around a third of the children. Taking into account all factors such as age, gender or myopia of the parents, the number of new myopia cases was higher in the corona group, according to the researchers. "We have a potential increase in myopia incidence, a significant decrease in outdoor time and an increase in screen time among school children in Hong Kong," the researchers concluded. The estimated one-year incidence in the six-, seven- and eight-year-olds was around 28, 27 and 26 percent, compared with around 17, 16 and 15 percent in the children of the pre-corona group, according to
Der Spiegel
.
However, the study is an observational study in which both groups of participants were observed over a different period of time, which led to criticism of the study results.
However, other studies, such as one from King's College London, have already shown
that the lack of switching between close-up and television, as is possible in nature, promotes myopia.
Therefore, ophthalmologists advise that children should play outdoors as often as possible.
(jg)
To the Chinese study
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