The increasing prevalence of myopia in children

The number of children with myopia in the United Kingdom has doubled over the last fifty years. Not only that, but children are also starting to develop short-sightedness at an earlier age, with primary school-age children now regularly being diagnosed with myopia. [1]

Those conclusions from an ongoing study into childhood vision have been supported by other studies, with genetic and environmental factors all having been identified as playing their part. Such is the increase in childhood myopia that it has been estimated that half of the world’s population will be myopic by 2050.