ArticleBMC ophthalmology2026
Screening-based prevalence and axis distribution of astigmatism among children and adolescents in Lintong District, Xi'an: a large-scale school-based cross-sectional study.
Article in BMC ophthalmology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDistrict-level information on childhood astigmatism is useful for school vision screening, but estimates vary according to population structure, astigmatism definition, and refraction protocol. We described screening-based astigmatism prevalence, severity, and axis distribution among schoolchildren in Lintong District, Xi'an.
methodsThis cross-sectional study used a district-wide school vision screening database collected from September to November 2023. Among 65,843 screened students aged 7-19 years, 65,127 were included after exclusions. Non-cycloplegic autorefraction was performed using the Topcon KR-8800 autorefractor (Topcon Corporation, Tokyo, Japan). Astigmatism was defined as cylinder power <= -0.75 D in minus-cylinder notation and classified as low, moderate, or high. Refractive status was classified using spherical equivalent; because spherical equivalent includes cylinder power, refractive-status subgroup analyses were interpreted as coexistence patterns rather than independent causal effects. Right-eye data were analyzed. Descriptive comparisons were used as the primary analyses, and multivariable regression results were retained as supplementary descriptive analyses.
resultsOverall astigmatism prevalence was 36.72%, and high astigmatism prevalence was 1.85% (1,202 students). Prevalence was 28.70% in primary school, 44.69% in junior middle school, and 52.41% in senior high school. With-the-rule astigmatism predominated among astigmatic students (89.71%). Myopic students had higher astigmatism prevalence and a higher proportion of moderate-to-high astigmatism than emmetropic students; this finding should be interpreted cautiously because of mathematical coupling between spherical equivalent and cylinder.
conclusionsAstigmatism was common in this large district school screening dataset and differed by school stage, axis type, and refractive-status category. The findings may help local screening programs plan re-examination and referral pathways, but they should not be interpreted as cycloplegic clinical diagnoses or as evidence of temporal progression or causality.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42920121What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.