City living may be making more kids short-sighted

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-12-09 03:00

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A Chinese study of nearly 200,000 elementary school students found short-sightedness is more common among kids who live in cities than those who live in the countryside. However, the eyesight of shortsighted kids in cities deteriorated less quickly than the eyesight of shortsighted kids who lived in less built-up areas. Why city living should lead to more cases of shortsightedness remains a mystery, for now. Although this type of study can't prove that where kids live is causing these differences, just that links exist, the authors say the results highlight the need for better optician services in more rural areas, to slow the deterioration of country kids' eyesight.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Tianjin Eye Hospital, China

Funder: This study was supported by grant 22JCZDJC00160 from the Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission, Tianjin Research Program of Application Foundation (W.Z.) and NKYKD202202 from the Nankai University Eye Institute (W.Z.).

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