The condition already affects about 35% of children worldwide, according to global data compiled in a recent study.
A myopia is a type of refractive error which prevents people from seeing objects that are far away. Typically, a person has myopia because their eyeball is longer than average, something that can happen when the eyes grow too quickly or are longer than normal.
A longer eyeball means that when light enters the eye it is not focused correctly on the retina. As a result, the image these patients see becomes blurred.
In an article published in , Flora Hui, honorary researcher in the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences at the Melbourne School of Health Sciences, at the University of Melbourne, states that the growth control of the eye is the most important factor in achieving normal vision.
It is true that this condition is easily corrected with the use of glasses or contact lenses, but if left unchecked, can progress quicklyincreasing the risk of serious and irreversible eye diseases.
This is why diagnosing and treating myopia is so important for eye health, especially in children.
One, published in BMJ Journals, analyzed the evolution of the rate of myopia over the last 30 years, combing 276 articles that included 5.4 million people aged between 5 and 19 years, from 50 countries, on six continents.
Based on these data, the researchers concluded that one in three Children already suffer from this condition, with a trend that is expected to increase.
In this sense, researchers predict a particular increase in teenagersas myopia is expected to affect more than 50% of people aged between 13 and 19 by 2050.
This analysis is the most comprehensive of its kind and offers a closer look at how childhood myopia is progressing around the world.
In addition to the time spent in front of screens, Hui highlights that higher rates of myopia may also be related to the fact that children spend less time outdoors.
“It is possible that the greater intensity of sunlight, compared to indoor light, promotes the release of dopamine. This crucial molecule can slow eye growth and help prevent the development of myopia,” the article says.
