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Introduction: The aim of our study was to examine whether outdoor activity influences the prevalence of myopia in schoolchildren., Materials and Methods: 5601 Polish students of elementary and secondary schools (2688 boys and 2913 girls), 6–18 years of age (mean 11.9 ±3.2 years) were examined. In every student cycloplegia after 1% tropicamide was performed. The mean spherical equivalent (SE) was calculated after examination of both eyes. Time spent on outdoor activity was evaluated based on a questionnaire. The obtained results were typed into an Excel spreadsheet and analyzed statistically using Statistica 10 software. Non-parametric tests were used due to the SE distribution being significantly different from normal distribution in the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient (Rs) was used to evaluate the strength of the correlation between these variables. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant., Results: It has been established that with the increase in time spent on outdoor activity, the spherical equivalent of the examined students significantly increases, but the correlation is very weak (Rs = +0.036, p = 0.007)., Conclusion: Outdoor activity slightly reduces the prevalence of myopia in schoolchildren.

Purpose: The aim of our study was to examine whether the month of birth influences the prevalence of refractive errors., Material and Methods: A total of 5,601 schoolchildren were examined (2,688 boys and 2,913 girls, aged 6-18 years, mean age 11.9, SD 3.2 years). The children examined, students of elementary and secondary schools, were Polish and resided in and around Szczecin, Poland. Every examined subject underwent retinoscopy under cycloplegia using 1% tropicamide. Data analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by the Siegel and Castellan post-hoc test or the Mann-Whitney U-test. P values of < 0.05 were considered statistically significant., Results: Students born in June had significantly higher spherical equivalents than schoolchildren born in May (0.66 ± 1.17 and 0.39 ± 1.17 respectively, p = 0.0058). The Mann-Whitney U-test showed that students born in June had significantly higher spherical equivalents than schoolchildren born in any other month (0.66 ± 1.17 and 0.50 ± 1.17 respectively, p = 0.0033). Besides that, we did not observe any other association between refractive errors and the month of birth., Conclusion: Children born in Poland in June may have a higher spherical equivalent.