{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T19:19:09Z","timestamp":1787167149102,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,28]],"date-time":"2022-04-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1651104000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Silm\u00e4s\u00e4\u00e4ti\u00f6 Foundation","award":["20199914"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20199914"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Children"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Purpose: To study the association of parents\u2019 reports about their children\u2019s near work and outdoor habits with myopia in their children. Methods: Data from a questionnaire study conducted in 1983 among Finnish schoolchildren were reanalyzed. Vision screening had been performed for all the schoolchildren (n = 4961) in the 1st, 5th, and 8th grades (7-, 11-, and 15-year-olds) in an area of Central Finland. The questionnaire, including information about myopia, was returned by 4305 (86.7%) participants. Items concerned parents\u2019 estimates of their child\u2019s habitual reading distance, time spent indoors as compared with age peers, daily near work, outdoors time, and parents\u2019 myopia. The associations of myopia with these factors were studied. Results: Myopia prevalence in those with a habitual close reading distance vs. others was 14.3% vs. 2.1%, 28.7% vs. 13.1% and 45.8% vs. 24.7% for the 7-, 11- and 15-year-olds (p &lt; 0.001 in all age-groups). Myopia prevalence in children reported by their parents as spending more time indoors than age peers was 10.9% vs. 2.8% (p &lt; 0.001), 25.0% vs. 14.7% (p = 0.004) and 41.9% vs. 25.7% (p &lt; 0.001) in the three age groups. Myopia prevalence among those reported as spending both more time indoors and reading at a close distance vs. others was 44.2% vs. 11.9% (Fisher\u2019s exact t-test, p &lt; 0.001). In the multiple logistic regression models, parental myopia almost doubled the risk of myopia in the 11- and 15-year-olds. ORs (95% CI) for myopia adjusted for parental myopia and sex were for close reading distance 7.381 (4.054\u201313.440), 2.382 (1.666\u20133.406), 2.237 (1.498\u20133.057), (p &lt; 0.001), and for more time spent indoors, 3.692 (1.714\u20137.954), p = 0.001, 1.861 (1.157\u20132.992), p = 0.010), 1.700 (1.105\u20132.615), p = 0.016, in the three age groups. Conclusion: Children, especially 7-year-olds, reported by their parents as having a close reading distance and spending a lot of time indoors were associated with a higher risk for myopia.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/children9050632","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,28]],"date-time":"2022-04-28T12:06:01Z","timestamp":1651147561000},"page":"632","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Associations of Children\u2019s Close Reading Distance and Time Spent Indoors with Myopia, Based on Parental Questionnaire"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Olavi","family":"P\u00e4rssinen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Central Hospital of Central Finland, 40620 Jyvaskyla, Finland"},{"name":"Gerontology Research Centre and Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4, 40100 Jyvaskyla, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Essi","family":"Lassila","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, 00029 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Markku","family":"Kauppinen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Gerontology Research Centre and Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4, 40100 Jyvaskyla, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1475-1313.2011.00884.x","article-title":"Worldwide prevalence and risk factors for myopia","volume":"32","author":"Pan","year":"2012","journal-title":"Ophthalmic Physiol. 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