No association between viewing distance, myopia among children using smartphones
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Key takeaways:
- There was no significant difference in smartphone viewing distance between refractive groups.
- Overall, 60% of total variance in viewing distance was attributed to individual differences.
Smartphone viewing distance was similar among children with and without myopia, with researchers reporting that 60% of variance was attributable to individual differences, according to a study in Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics.
“A prominent hypothesis attributes the onset and progression of myopia to sustained near viewing, which for many children may include the use of handheld digital devices,” Josh Richards, a PhD student in vision science, and colleagues at Indiana University School of Optometry, wrote. “Near viewing frequency was amplified during the COVID-19 crisis due to isolation protocols and the electronic delivery of educational services, with some reports indicating over 60% of students attending classes on smartphone digital devices. During the same period, an increase in myopia progression has also been reported.”
To test the hypothesis that smartphone viewing distance depends on the task, refractive status, arm length and age, Richards and colleagues recruited 38 children aged 6 to 17 (mean age, 11.84 years; 20 boys), of whom 17 were myopic, to participate in a study. Eligible participants had less than 3 D of cylinder, corrected visual acuity of at least 0.10 logMAR and no history of abnormal binocular vision, strabismus or amblyopia.
Researchers measured the children’s real-time viewing distance using MyopiaApp on a Google Pixel 3 device while they performed five tasks on the device: playing a game, watching a video in light and dark environments, and reading small and large text. Participants wore their habitual correction during the tasks.
According to results, there was no significant difference in viewing distance between any of the tasks, nor was there significant association between refractive group, task, age or arm length and viewing distance.
The researchers reported that 60% of the total variance in viewing distance could be accounted for by individual differences.
“Taken together, these results are encouraging that the use of smartphones may not expose child users to high levels of foveal hyperopic defocus (a myopogenic stimulus), or significantly alter their viewing behavior even once myopia has developed,” Richards and colleagues wrote. “Given the large between-subject variability, this technology may be useful for clinicians to monitor the near viewing behavior of each of their young patients to obtain a more complete picture of that child’s viewing behavior and accordingly provide optimized treatments based on each child’s refractive needs.”
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