Gender Difference of the Association Between Sleep Duration and Myopia Among Children and Adolescents

With girls typically exhibiting higher rates of myopia than boys, however, the mechanisms behind this gender difference remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the gender disparities in the relationship between myopia, sleep duration, physical activity, and BMI.

A total of 3138 primary and secondary school students were included. Mplus 8.3 was used to perform the multiple mediation analysis.

Sleep duration was indicated to directly affect myopia (β=0.273, 95% CI=0.184-0.356) and through physical activity, BMI, physical activity and BMI three significantly mediation pathways, respectively. In terms of gender, the mediating direct effect of sleep duration on myopia of boys was 66.96%, which is much higher than that of girls' 50.91%. And the mediating indirect effect of sleep duration on myopia through physical activity and BMI are 32.65% and 12.10% respectively among girls, both of which are significantly higher than that of boys.

The study found that there are significant differences in the impact of sleep duration on myopia in children and adolescents of different genders. In this regard, while paying attention to the sleep duration of children and adolescents, special attention should also be paid to the indirect impact of girls' physical activity and BMI on myopia, and targeted measures should be formulated according to children of different genders to effectively protect the eye health of children and adolescents.