'Epidemic' of myopia as number of nearsighted adults on the rise

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-01-20 06:00

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People born in the late 1960s are 10% more likely to be nearsighted than those born three decades earlier, according to a large survey of medical records in the UK. The largest increase was in cases of adult-onset myopia, although three quarters of these cases were mild. Among people who were diagnosed with child-onset myopia, the number of severe cases doubled within the same timeframe. Researchers say these trends in the frequency and types of myopia could be explained by a number of factors. Likely causes include changes in children’s nutrition over time, new methods of teaching, and other lifestyle changes such as screen-time in and out of work. They also suggest that higher rates of tertiary education could be to blame - previous studies have found a strong association between education level and nearsightedness.