The paper analyzes the influence of lifestyle factors on the development and progression of myopia in children. The study was conducted by means of an online survey among parents of 51 children with myopia, 39 of whom had a progressive visual defect and 12 had a constant one. In the theoretical part, the pathogenesis of myopia was discussed, emphasizing the role of genetic and environmental factors. Epidemiological data indicating a global increase in the prevalence of myopia, especially among children and adolescents, were presented. The in-house study focused on the analysis of factors such as time spent outdoors, exposure to daylight, sleep duration, diet and physical activity. The Mann-Whitney U test, Fisher's exact test and logistic regression were used for statistical analysis. The results showed that statistically significant risk factors for myopia progression were: less time spent outdoors (p=0.0235), less exposure to daylight (p=0.0048), more sweets consumed (p=0.045).
There was no significant association between the progression of the defect and correction methods, number of hours slept, or physical activity. The study had some limitations, such as unequal groups, subjective data from parents, lack of information about the initial refractive defect and a relatively small study sample. The study's conclusions are partially consistent with previous works, which also pointed to the protective effects of time spent outdoors and light exposure on children's.