Evaluating the impact of COVID-19 pandemic-related home confinement on the refractive error of school-aged children in Germany: a cross-sectional study based on data from 414 eye care professional centres

ObjectiveThis study aimed at evaluating refractive changes in German school-aged children before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.DesignCross-sectional study.Setting414 eye care professional centres from Germany.ParticipantsRefractive data from 59 926 German children aged 6–15 years were examined over a 7-year period (2015–2021).Primary and secondary outcome measuresSpherical equivalent refraction was assessed as a function of year, age and gender. The refractive values concerning 2020 and 2021 were compared with those assigned to prior years (2015–2019).ResultsThe refractive data associated with 2020 and 2021 showed a myopic refractive shift of approximately −0.20D compared with the 2015–2019 range. The refractive change was statistically considerable in the 6 to 11-year range (p