More than one in three children and adolescents worldwide have myopia, according to the largest study of its kind.
Experts don’t know why it occurs, but studies have shown that children who use computers or smartphones for long periods are at greater risk.
The last global survey on the prevalence of myopia was conducted in 2015. To obtain a more accurate picture and to inform public health policy and preventive measures, researchers estimated the current and future prevalence of myopia among people aged five to 19 by 2050.
The most comprehensive global analysis to date shows a dramatic increase in myopia over the past 30 years, with the number of cases among children and adolescents expected to reach 740 million by 2050.
According to the analysis published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, girls and children or adolescents living in urban areas are more prone to developing myopia.
According to researchers from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, myopia typically begins in early childhood and tends to worsen with age.
The latest work utilized all relevant studies and government reports published up to June 2023. A total of 276 studies were included in the review, involving more than five million children and adolescents and nearly two million cases of myopia from 50 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
Data from all studies were then pooled to account for geographic and other variables. The analysis showed an increase in prevalence from 24% in 1990-2000 to 25% in 2001-2010, followed by sharper increases to 30% in 2011-2019 and 36% in 2020-2023. Based on these data and trends through 2023, researchers estimate that the global prevalence of myopia will reach about 40% by 2050, surpassing 740 million cases compared to 600 million in 2030.
