WHAT IS MYOPIA?
Myopia, or short-sight, occurs when the eye has clear vision at near but not at distance. Usually occurring
due to elongation of the eye itself, it is progressive, particularly during childhood and teenage years.
While myopia may be corrected with glasses, contact lenses or even laser corrective surgery, these
corrective options do not mitigate the risks associated with high myopia – cataract, maculopathy,
retinal detachment and glaucoma.
Modern lifestyles, which shift away from outdoor time and an associated increase of near activities, are considered to be a risk for myopia development.
WHAT DOES NEW RESEARCH SAY?
A China study screened more than 120,000 children aged 6-8 years who had been confined to home
during the Covid-19 pandemic. The prevalence of myopia in this group was 1.4 to 3 times in 2020 compared to the previous five years. The authors’ state that children of this age group may be particularly sensitive to environmental changes this being a critical period for vision development.
Results of a closer to home study, were published recently; the Kidskin study 1995-2002 involved 1776 children aged 6-12 years in Perth to evaluate a reduction in sun exposure on the skin. As an aside, a clear link between increased outdoor time and reduction in myopia was shown. Participants who spent more time outdoors during childhood had a lower incidence of myopia in young adulthood.
The Kidskin Young Adult Myopia Study (KYAMS) looked at sun exposure of children aged 8-12 years and also compared this to their myopic status. It confirmed that spending more time outdoors during late adolescence and young adulthood was associated with lower risk of myopia onset during this time. While there are several factors such as genetics and environment involved in myopia development, researchers concluded that the risk of myopia would be reduced by 50% if children increased outdoor time from one to three hours per day.
A Taiwan study, conducted from 2014 to 2019, and including more than 20,000 children aged 5-6 years, compared the prevalence of myopia in this group after a 2 year intervention period of increasing outdoor time to two hours per day, in comparison to a cohort of children of the same age before the intervention was implemented. The study showed myopia prevalence reduced from 15% to 8%.
These studies reinforce that more time spent outdoors to delay myopia onset works and how we spend our time as children can affect visual outcomes in adulthood. All the more reason to get outside with our kids!