New Global Survey Underscores Need for Myopia Education
Wednesday, February 3 2021 | 07 h 19 min | News
Recently released global survey results from CooperVision underscore a gap between the concern of eye care professionals and the understanding of parents regarding the growing myopia epidemic and the impact myopia can have on future eye health. Four in five eye care professionals (82%) worry that their young patients will have significant eye health issues associated with myopia as they grow older and yet over half (54%) say parents don’t understand these future eye health risks. These and other findings are featured in an infographic available here.
402 ECPs and 1,009 parents with children ages 6 to 15 across Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand were included in the Global Myopia Attitudes and Awareness Study.
Globally, parents are more familiar with the term nearsighted (i.e. short-sighted) than myopia, though the difference varies from country to country. Whereas at least 8 in 10 parents expressed familiarity with the term nearsighted across all surveyed countries (82-98%), only Spain (91%), Hong Kong (86%), and Australia and New Zealand (90%) could say the same for myopia.
Nearly three-quarters of ECPs agree a comprehensive myopia management program featuring MiSight® 1 day seems easy (72%) for children and their parents to follow and is an even more convenient (75%) way to manage myopia than other products. Ultimately, what many ECPs (92%) find important about offering myopia management is the ability to make a difference in their young patients’ future eye health.
“In these results, we see both opportunity and encouragement for myopia management globally,” said Jennifer Lambert, CooperVision senior director of global myopia management. “A top priority for us and many of our partners is to close the gap of myopia awareness among parents worldwide.”
Selected data and insights from the survey were recently presented in a scientific poster session during the 2020 BCLA UK Virtual Conference and Exhibition.
Click HERE for the full press release.
