Spatial epidemiological characteristics and driving factors of myopia among school-age children based on geographical detector: a national study

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to examine the spatial characteristics of myopia and identify the socioeconomic and environmental factors influencing its prevalence. Myopia prevalence among children of school age of Han ethnicity in China was 56.6% in 2019, with the highest and lowest prevalence’s in Shandong (66.8%) and Guizhou (47.3%), respectively. There was a spatial aggregation of myopia prevalence in China. Environmental factors (atmospheric PM_2.5 concentration and forest coverage) and socioeconomic factors (gross domestic product per capita, per capita disposable income, hospital beds per thousand people, and Engel coefficient) have significant influences on myopia prevalence. The interaction of each factor on myopia showed nonlinear enhancement. Myopia prevalence among children of school age was spatially clustered, and environmental and socioeconomic conditions are associated with myopia prevalence. Our findings provide novel perspectives for the comprehensive prevention and control of myopia.

KEYWORDS:

• Geographical detector
• myopia
• epidemiology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data will be made available on request.

Authors’ contributions

Jingfeng Mu: Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing-original draft. Mingjie Jiang: Software, Writing-original draft. Haoxi Zhong: Data curation. Jiantao Wang: Validation. Shaochong Zhang: Writing-review & editing, Supervision, Funding acquisition.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Sanming Project of Medicine in Shenzhen (SZSM202011015) and Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (JCYJ20230807114608016).