Prevalence and trend of poor eyesight among primary and high school students in Henan province,1985-2014

Objective To analyze the prevalence and trend of poor eyesight among the students aged 7-18 years in Henan province between 1985 and 2014 and to provide evidences for prevention and control of poor eyesight in the population.Methods Data on vision examination for the students at ages of 7-18 years were extracted from the datasets of 7 waves of physical fitness survey among students in Henan province conducted between 1985 and 2014.Results Among the students surveyed in 2014,the overall prevalence rate of poor eyesight was 55.1%,with the higher rate for the girl students (58.40%) than the boy students (51.90%),the urban students (61.10%) than the rural students (49.10%),and the senior high school students (77.90%) than the junior high school students (67.70%) and the primary school students(37.60%);the prevalence rate of severely,moderately,and slightly poor eyesight were 32.30%,16.70%,and 6.10%,respectively.From 1985 to 2014,the prevalence rate of poor eyesight increased by 26.8% for all the students surveyed,with an overall increasing ratio of 94.7% and higher increasing ratios of 100.3%,119.2%,and 216.0% for the boy students,rural students,and primary school students compared to those for the girl students (89.0%),urban students (80.8%),junior and senior higher school students (103.9% and 57.1%),respectively.The increasing ratios for the prevalence of severely and moderately poor eyesight were 99.3% and 119.7%;whereas the prevalence of slightly poor eyesight showed a decreasing ratio of 1.6%.Conclusion The prevalence rate of poor eyesight increased continuously among 7-18 years old students in Henan province between 1985 and 2014 and the prevalence rate increased more quickly among rural students and the students at younger ages;the gap in the prevalence rate between male and female students decreased.The results suggest that health education on eye hygiene should be strengthened among the students,especially among rural and primary school students.