Refractive errors among students occupying rooms lighted with incandescent or fluorescent lamps

The purpose of the study was to determine whether the development of refractive errors could be associated with exposure to light emitted by incandescent or fluorescent lamps. 3636 students were examined (1638 boys and 1998 girls, aged 6-18 years, mean age 12.1, SD 3.4). The examination included retinoscopy with cycloplegia. Myopia was defined as refractive error < or = -0.5 D, hyperopia as refractive error > or = +1.5 D, astigmatism as refractive error > 0.5 DC. Anisometropia was diagnosed when the difference in the refraction of both eyes was > 1.0 D. The children and their parents completed a questionnaire on exposure to light at home. Data were analyzed statistically with the chi2 test. P values of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. It was found that the use of fluorescent lamps was associated with an increase in the occurrence of hyperopia (P < 0.01). There was no association between sleeping with the light turned on and prevalence of refractive errors.