Objective  To explore prevalence and regional distribution characteristics of poor eyesight among young male physical examinees to be recruited by Chinese military academies and to provide references for revising physical examination standard and making measures for poor eyesight prevention.

  Methods  We extracted data on visual acuity among 17 – 20 years old (mean = 18.38 ± 0.73) boy students (n = 37 413) having physical examination for military academy recruit in 31 province level regions in 2017. The eyesight of the students was assessed with standard logarithmic visual acuity chart and then the students' uncorrected visual acuities were classified into four groups: normal (binocular distant vision ≥ 5.0), mild poor (monocular or binocular distant vision = 4.9 ), moderate poor (monocular or binocular distant vision 4.6 – 4.8), and severe poor (monocular or binocular distant vision ≤ 4.5). Regional difference in detection rate of poor eyesight was analyzed using SAS 9.4 software.

  Results  For all the examinees, the overall detection rate of poor eyesight was 58.32%; a significant between province level region difference was observed in the detection rate (P < 0.001), with the lowest rate (39.11%) among the examinees in Chongqing municipality and the highest (79.94%) in Guangdong province among the 31 province level regions and with higher rates (67.39% and 70.66%) in the northwestern and southern and a lower rare (48.47%) in the northeastern among geographical regions in China. The poor eyesight detection rate decreased with the increment of age among the examinees. The detection rate was 57.00% and 59.67% among the examinees from urban and rural areas. There was a significant between urban-rural difference in the poor eyesight detection rate among the examinees in the eastern, central and southwestern China. The poor eyesight detection rate was lower among minority examinees than among Han examinees (55.61% vs. 58.69%) and the between ethnic group disparity in the detection rate was significant among the examinees from all geographical regions, except among those from southern and northern China (P < 0.05 for all).

  Conclusion  The detection rate of poor eyesight was higher among young male physical examinees to be recruited by Chinese military academies and was significantly different among the examinees from various regions. The results suggest that measures should be implemented among adolescents to control the prevalence of poor eyesight.