The Effect of Eye Exercises of Acupoints on Myopia Progression: A 3-Year Cohort Report from the Beijing Myopia Progression Study

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the impact of eye exercises of acupoints on myopic progression among Chinese urban students.

Methods

The Beijing Myopia Progression Study (BMPS) was a three-year cohort study, with 386 students (aged 6–17 years) enrolled at baseline. These students were invited to be reexamined in the years 2011, 2012, and 2013. The student’s cycloplegic refraction at each visit and the parental non-cycloplegic refraction at baseline were performed. Students were also required to complete the eye exercise of acupoints questionnaire and the convergence insufficiency symptom survey (CISS).

Results

At the final follow-up, 226 students (57.2%) with complete refraction and eye exercises questionnaire data were enrolled in the present study. In the multivariate analysis, only students who performed the eye exercises twice or more per day had less myopic refractive change (β=0.32, p=0.04), as compared to those who performed the eye exercises less than twice per day. No significant association was found between the CISS score and the refractive change for items in the eye exercises questionnaire.

Conclusion

In this study cohort, the Chinese eye exercises of acupoints had a modest effect on reducing myopic progression among Chinese urban students aged 6 to 17 years. The precise mechanism remains unclear, especially in the absence of a control group.

Keywords:

• eye exercises
• acupoints
• myopia
• progression
• myopia risk factors
• convergence insufficiency symptom survey

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Xiao Xia Li (Zhengzhou Second People’s Hospital), Dr. Yi Cao Zhang (Anyang Eye Hospital), Dr. Xiao Dong Yang (Nanjing Tongren Hospital), Dr. Qian Jia (Handan Eye Hospital), Dr. Yue Wu (Beijing Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University), and Dr. Xiao Gu Cai (Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University) for their invaluable assistance in the data collection.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

The study followed the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Beijing Tongren Hospital Ethics Committee. Written, informed consent of participation was obtained from children’s parents/guardians.

Consent for Publication

Written, informed consent for publication was obtained from children’s parents/guardians.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

The study was supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LQ18H120004), the Research Startup Project of Wenzhou Medical University (No. 89213008), and the Beijing Science & Technology Novel Star Program (2009B44).