AIM: To investigate the current visual acuity of the preschool children in Tongzhou district of Beijing and analyze their refractive status.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study. A total of 1 513 children(3 026 eyes)aged 3-6 years old from 9 kindergartens in Tongzhou District of Beijing were selected by cluster random sampling method from December 2021 to January 2022. Visual acuity and diopters were examined in all of them, and the distribution of visual acuity and diopters of children in different age groups were analyzed.

RESULTS: The visual acuity abnormality rate of the included children was 15.47%, and the refractive abnormality rate was 14.24%, and the detection rate of abnormal refractive error decreased with the increase of age, while the type of abnormal refractive error was mainly simple myopic astigmatism(11.46%). With the increase of age, the rate of simple hyperopia gradually decreased, and the rate of simple myopia gradually increased. The diopters test results showed that the spherical diopters of the included children were 0.50(0.25, 1.00)D, the cylindrical diopters were -0.25(-0.50, -0.25)D, and the equivalent spherical diopters were 0.375(0, 0.625)D. There was no difference in equivalent spherical diopters among children of different ages(P>0.05), but there was difference in cylindrical diopters(P<0.001).

CONCLUSION: The abnormal visual acuity rate of the children aged 3-5 years decreased gradually with the increase of age, and then increased after 6 years old. At 3-6 years, simple myopic astigmatism was the main refractive abnormality. Attention should be paid to the development of visual acuity in preschool children, and regular visual acuity and refractive status examinations should be carried out.