Article Sidebar
Published:
Jun 24, 2023DOI:
10.4314/jnoa.v25i1.4Keywords:
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
The author(s) retain their copyright, which means that authors may use the article for teaching and other non-commercial research purposes without approval from the publisher, provided the journal is acknowledged as the original source.
Disclaimer: Concerted efforts are always made by the Publisher and the Editorial Board to see that no inaccurate or misleading information, opinion or assertion appears in this journal. However, information and opinions appearing in the articles of this journal are the sole responsibility of the author(s) concerned. The Publisher, Editorial Board, their agents or employees, accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever for the consequences of any inaccurate information.
Main Article Content
Association between outdoor play and myopia among children in Cross River State, Nigeria. A case control study
Abstract
Purpose: Myopia is a refractive error of the eyes that causes blurred distance vision. Near work, genetics and environmental factors have been implicated as risk factors in Child myopia. This study seeks to determine the association between time spent on outdoor play and myopia among children in Calabar, Nigeria.
Methods: It was a hospital-based case-control study conducted among 120 children (5-17 years old) selected and matched by age and sex from out-patients of the Cross River Eye Care Program. After obtaining parental consents, assent was obtained from the children before conducting comprehensive eye examinations. Myopia was defined as a spherical equivalent of ≥-0.50D. Cases were children diagnosed with myopia and controls were those without myopia. Independent samples t-test and Spearman’s correlation were conducted and P-value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant at 95% confidence interval.
Results: Cases spent lesser time playing outdoors than controls (M = 1.95 vs 2.40 hours daily, p = 0.01). Spearman’s correlation found a statistically significant, weak, negative correlation between time spent on outdoor play and myopia [rs(118) = -0.217, p = 0.017]. Spending above 2 hours on outdoor play had an OR of 0.37 (95% CI = 0.170 - 0.816).
Conclusion: In this association found between time spent on outdoor play and myopia, as time spent on outdoor play increases, myopia decreases. Increased time spent on outdoor play was a protective factor against myopia. Hence it is recommended that more awareness be created on the protective effect of outdoor play.
