Prevalence and risk factors for myopia and high myopia: A cross‐sectional study among Han and Uyghur students in Xinjiang, China

Abstract Purpose This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors for myopia and high myopia among Han and Uyghur students in Xinjiang, China. Methods This cross‐sectional study with a multistage, stratified cluster sampling method was completed in Xinjiang, China. Visual acuity and noncycloplegic refraction were measured. The crude and sex‐ and age‐adjusted prevalence of myopia and high myopia in Han and Uyghur students were compared. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were applied to identify risk factors associated with myopia and high myopia. Results In total, 84,033 participants were included in the final analysis, comprising 64,110 Han and 19,923 Uyghur participants. The overall age‐ and sex‐adjusted prevalence of myopia and high myopia were 47.70% (95% CI: 47.67–47.74) and 2.55% (95% CI: 2.54–2.56), respectively. Compared to the Uyghur population, the Han population had a higher prevalence of myopia (63.59% vs. 21.34%, p < 0.0001) and high myopia (4.68% vs. 0.6%, p < 0.0001). Han ethnicity, age, female sex, higher education level and living in urban areas were found to be positively associated with myopia and high myopia. Living in northern Xinjiang was found to be positively associated with myopia but negatively associated with high myopia. Conclusions Our study investigated the prevalence of myopia and high myopia among Han and Uyghur students aged 4–23 years in Xinjiang, China. The Han population had a higher prevalence of myopia and high myopia than the Uyghur population. However, the prevalence of myopia among the Uyghur population showed a more remarkable increasing trend than that among the Han population in Xinjiang.