Half of World’s Population Will be Short-Sighted by 2050

Tuesday, February 23 2016 | 00 h 00 min | Vision Science

There will be 5 billion cases of myopia by 2050, with one-fifth of those cases at increased risk for blindness, according to the Brien Holden Vision Institute.

In East Asia alone, the number of myopes is expected to go from 517 million in 2000 to nearly one billion in 2050.

The leading causes for the rise in myopia are thought to be environmental, mainly due to the lifestyle changes of increasing urbanization and the greater amount of time children spend indoors at close-range tasks, such as using computers and reading.

Interventions that could slow or delay the onset of myopia, such as increased outdoor activity time for children, could reduce the incidence rate but would require “a combined effort by government, education and health systems.”

Full article: http://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420%2816%2900025-7/fulltext