Relationships between Sleep Duration, Timing, Consistency, and Chronotype with Myopia among School-Aged Children

The role of sleep in childhood myopia has been a research focus; however, the existing evidence is conflicting on sleep duration and timing, and as yet, no studies involve sleep consistency and chronotype. This study is done to make multiple-perspective analyses on the associations between sleep variables and myopia.

A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Shanghai, China, which included 10,142 school-aged children (7-12 years old, 53.2% boys). The Chinese version of the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) was used to assess sleep variables. Propensity score matching was adopted to balance the difference of covariates between nonmyopic and myopic groups. Logistic regression models were implemented to examine the associations between sleep variables and myopia.

Sleep duration and timing, mainly during weekdays, were correlated with myopia in a dose-dependent pattern, in which longer sleep duration was associated with decreased risk of myopia (9-10 hours/day: odds ratio (OR) = 0.87; ≥10 hours/day: OR = 0.77; by comparison with <9 hours/day); later bedtime (9 pm to 9:30 pm: OR = 1.46; 9:30 pm to 10 pm: OR = 1.51; 10 pm and after: OR = 2.08; by comparison with before 9 pm) and later wake-up time (7 am and after: OR = 1.36; by comparison with before 6:30 am) increased the risk (all P < 0.05). Moreover, longer weekend catch-up sleep duration and intermediate and evening chronotype were positively correlated with myopia, while social jetlag was associated with a lower odds of myopia. All these findings were also similarly observed in the matching sample.

Multiple dimensions of sleep were involved in childhood myopia. In addition to sleep duration and timing, sleep consistency and chronotype were also strictly related to myopia. More studies are needed to enrich the current evidence, thus further clarifying the association between sleep and childhood myopia.