According to a recent study from Brien Holden Vision Institute, University of New South Wales Australia and Singapore Eye Research Institute, published in the journal Ophthalmology, half the world’s population (nearly five billion) will develop myopia (shortsightedness) by 2050. The number is expected to increase seven-fold from 2000 to 2050, mainly due to lifestyle changes, such as decreased time outdoors.
According to the study’s co-author Kovin Naidoo, CEO of Brien Holden Vision Institute, there are preventive strategies that should implemented for children who are at risk that include regular eye examinations and “increased time outdoors and reduced time spent on near-based activities, including electronic devices that require constant focusing up close.”
Other options include specially designed spectacle lenses and contact lenses as well as drug interventions, though, according to Naidoo, investment in research is needed to further explore the efficacy of and access to such methods.
