AIM: To investigate the refractive status and myopia wearing rate of primary and secondary school students aged 6-18 in Yecheng county, Xinjiang.

METHOD: Cross-sectional study. From October 2021 to June 2022, a stratified random sampling method was used to select 81 863 students from 51 primary schools and 30 secondary schools in Yecheng county, Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang. Basic data of the students were collected, and non ciliary muscle paralysis optometry was performed to detect naked eye farsightedness and corrected vision with glasses. The refractive status, glasses wearing rate, and full correction rate of students of different ages, genders, and ethnic groups were observed.

RESULT: The detection rate of myopia among enrolled students was 13.39%(10958/81863), the wearing rate of glasses was 23.96%(2626/10958), and the full correction rate was 50.57%(1328/2626). The detection rate of myopia shows a certain upward trend with age, and the detection rate of myopia in girls was higher than that in boys(15.75% vs. 10.96%). The detection rates of myopia in Han, Uyghur, and other ethnic students were 68.12%, 12.63%, and 22.42%, respectively.

CONCLUSION:The detection rate of myopia and glasses wearing rate were relatively low for students aged 6～18 in Yecheng county, Xinjiang, while the detection rate and glasses wearing rate of myopia among Han students were significantly higher than those of Uyghur and students of other ethnics.