The Effect of Online Learning on Myopia Progression

Abstract

During the pandemic COVID-19, online learning is an alternative solution because it can be used anywhere and at any time. Long-term use of digital devices causes a variety of eye problems, the most common of which is refractive error. Medical students are at high risk of experiencing
myopia because they do a lot of long and intensive reading and other close-up activities. This study analyzes the effect of online learning on the refraction status of students at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Semarang. This research uses observational analytics with a crosssectional
method, conducted from December 2022 to January 2023. The sample
was students from the Faculty of Medicine, Muhammadiyah University
of Semarang, class of 2019, 2020 and 2021 used a simple random
sampling method. There were 41 students had emmetropic status before
the pandemic, and 41 students had myopic status. Refractive status before and after online learning was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney
test. The refraction status of respondents after online learning who had
myopic refractive status increase in negative spherical diopters were
23 people (56.1%) while The refraction status of respondents after
online learning who who had emetropi status increase of negative spherical
diopters were 2 people (4.9%). Analysis results show the p value of 0.001 (<0.05) indicating that there was a significant difference in negative
spherical diopters between the myopic and emmetropic groups, before and after online learning. To sum up, online learning affects refractive status, by increasing myopia.
 
Keywords: Myopi, Refractive Status, Online Learning, Screen Time