Pseudo-Myopia and Screen Time: A Pre and Post Cycloplegic Refractive Evaluation of Children age 4–16 years

Purpose: to examine the magnitude of pseudo-myopia in relation to preand post-cycloplegic refractive status among individuals aged 4 to 16 years and to investigate the relationship of pseudo myopia and screen time in said population. Material and methods. Study included 66 subject’s right eyes of 48 % males, 52 % females aged 4–16 with mean and standard deviation of 10.0 ± 3.40. This comparative crosssectional study was conducted at the department of ophthalmology Tertiary Care Hospital, Islamabad. Consecutive non-randomized sampling techniques was adopted. Screen time duration in hours was measured using self-report or screen time tracking applications in smartphones. Visual acuity (VA) was measured with a standard Log MAR chart. Pre and post cycloplegic refraction with retinoscopy and Auto-refractometer were performed using Tropicamide 1 %. Paired t test was applied for pre and post cycloplegic refraction change, while Pearson correlational analysis was also calculated. Descriptive statistics were calculated using SPSS Version 21. Results. Average screen time was 5.6 ± 1.5 hours, outdoor activity was 50.6 ± 27.3 minutes. Pre-dilation VA improved from 0.3 ± 0.3 to 0.05 ± 0.14 log MAR post-dilation. The mean spherical equivalent refractive error in pre-dilation state was –4.1 ± 2.2 D, while in post-dilation it was 0.76 ± 0.8 D. The differences were significant (p<0.01). A statistically significant relationship found between screen exposure time and pseudo-myopia (r=0.41, p<0.001). Conclusion. Increasing screen time is associated with pseudo-myopia. Prolonged screen exposure led to increased pseudo-myopia in low myopes and hyperopes.