Housing type and myopia: the mediating role of parental myopia

BACKGROUND: Myopia has become a significant global public health concern, and is highly prevalent worldwide especially in Asian countries. It is associated with genetic factors as well as socioeconomic status; however, the underlying cause for school myopia has not been established. This study evaluates the impact of living environment on school myopia in Chinese school-aged children. METHODS: A large cross-sectional sample of area- and ethnicity-matched school children; a total of 43, 771 children from 12 cities participated in this study. The presence of myopia was self-reported and potential risk factors were determined by questionnaires. RESULTS: The self-reported prevalence of myopia in Chinese children was 31.8 % (n = 13, 928). In multiple logistic regression analysis, higer risk of myopia among school-aged children was significantly positively associated with both parental myopia (OR = 3.57; 95 % CI: 3.26–3.90), living in 1–3 floor (OR = 1.28; 95 % CI: 2.57–3.15), 4–6 floor (OR = 1.84; 95 % CI: 1.73–1.95) and 7 floor or more (OR = 2.02; 95 % CI: 1.88–2.16). Particularly, housing type was independently associated with myopia after stratified by parental myopia. An increasing prevalence of myopia was found with increasing floor of housing type in each outdoor time group. CONCLUSIONS: Housing type was independently associated with myopia, after stratified by parental myopia. Flat room, lower living floor and more outdoor time may be protective factors for myopia among school-aged children in mainland China. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12886-016-0324-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.