Health & Medicine
Increased Nearsightedness Linked to Higher Education: Myopia's Severity and Prevalence Rise
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Jun 27, 2014 07:47 AM EDT
Are you nearsighted? Then you may just have received more education than the average person. Scientists have found strong evidence that attaining a higher level of education and spending more years in school are two factors associated with a greater prevalence and severity of nearsightedness.
Nearsightedness, also called myopia, is the inability to be able to see objects that are far away. The condition has become more prevalent around the world in recent years, and actually presents a growing global health and economic concern. Severe nearsightedness has been associated with a greater risk of retinal detachment, myopic macular degeneration, premature cataracts and glaucoma. In the United States alone, nearsightedness affects about 42 percent of the population. In developed Asian countries, myopia rates are increasing at up to 80 percent. That's why researchers decided to take a closer look at what might cause myopia in a person.
In order to analyze the association between myopia and environmental influences, such as education and development, the researchers examined nearsightedness in 4,658 Germans between the ages of 35 to 74. They excluded anyone with cataracts or who had undergone refractive surgery.
In the end, the researchers found that nearsightedness became more prevalent as education levels increased. Only 24 percent of people with no high school education or other training were nearsighted, while 35 percent of high school graduations were nearsighted and 53 percent of university graduates were nearsighted.
That's not all, either. The severity of myopia increased along with the prevalence. For each year of schooling, nearsightedness worsened; and while scientists took genetic factors into account, these factors seemed to have much less influence as compared to education level.
"Since students appear to be at a higher risk of nearsightedness, it makes sense to encourage them to spend more time outdoors as a precaution," said Alireza Mirshahi, the lead author of the new study, in a news release.
The findings reveal that a simple way to curb the global rise of myopia is by encouraging people to spend time outdoors, which has been associated with less nearsightedness.
The findings are published in the journal Ophthalmology.
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First Posted: Jun 27, 2014 07:47 AM EDT
Are you nearsighted? Then you may just have received more education than the average person. Scientists have found strong evidence that attaining a higher level of education and spending more years in school are two factors associated with a greater prevalence and severity of nearsightedness.
Nearsightedness, also called myopia, is the inability to be able to see objects that are far away. The condition has become more prevalent around the world in recent years, and actually presents a growing global health and economic concern. Severe nearsightedness has been associated with a greater risk of retinal detachment, myopic macular degeneration, premature cataracts and glaucoma. In the United States alone, nearsightedness affects about 42 percent of the population. In developed Asian countries, myopia rates are increasing at up to 80 percent. That's why researchers decided to take a closer look at what might cause myopia in a person.
In order to analyze the association between myopia and environmental influences, such as education and development, the researchers examined nearsightedness in 4,658 Germans between the ages of 35 to 74. They excluded anyone with cataracts or who had undergone refractive surgery.
In the end, the researchers found that nearsightedness became more prevalent as education levels increased. Only 24 percent of people with no high school education or other training were nearsighted, while 35 percent of high school graduations were nearsighted and 53 percent of university graduates were nearsighted.
That's not all, either. The severity of myopia increased along with the prevalence. For each year of schooling, nearsightedness worsened; and while scientists took genetic factors into account, these factors seemed to have much less influence as compared to education level.
"Since students appear to be at a higher risk of nearsightedness, it makes sense to encourage them to spend more time outdoors as a precaution," said Alireza Mirshahi, the lead author of the new study, in a news release.
The findings reveal that a simple way to curb the global rise of myopia is by encouraging people to spend time outdoors, which has been associated with less nearsightedness.
The findings are published in the journal Ophthalmology.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone