Role of light in myopia management: A citation network analysis.

This study explores the interconnections between various publications and authors, identifies distinct research domains concerning light's role in myopia control, and pinpoints the most referenced study within citation networks. A systematic literature search was conducted in the Web of Science database using the keywords "(Myopia OR 'Refractive error') AND (Control OR Treatment OR Therapy OR Management) AND (Light OR Ultraviolet OR Solar OR Outdoors)" covering the period from 1990 to December 2024. Citation Network Explorer, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace were used to analyze the publications. A total of 1,468 publications and 5,473 citation networks were identified, with the highest publication volume in 2023 (153 papers). The most cited article, by He et al. in JAMA 2015, focused on the effect of outdoor time on myopia development among children, receiving 588 citations. The analysis clustered the findings into five key research areas: dopamine's role, outdoor exposure time, red light therapy, scleral cross-linking efficacy, and intrastromal cross-linking benefits. Overall, the citation network provides a comprehensive assessment of significant studies on sunlight and monochromatic light in myopia prevention and management, emphasizing the importance of preventing axial eye growth.