Association of long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and myopia in Chinese children.

Long-term exposure to specific ambient air pollutants, especially sulfate (SO4 2-), is linked to increased myopia prevalence in Chinese schoolchildren.

• Why it matters: Childhood myopia is a growing public health concern, and understanding environmental risk factors like air pollution could inform prevention strategies.
• What they did: A school-based study in Tianjin, China, analyzed data from 212,566 students using machine-learning models to estimate 3-year average concentrations of multiple pollutants, including PM 2.5 components and ozone, and assessed their associations with myopia prevalence through statistical models.
• The result: Higher quartiles of sulfate exposure were associated with a 10% increase in myopia prevalence, and joint pollutant exposure was linked to a 1.7% increase, suggesting long-term ambient air pollution may be related to childhood myopia.