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In a new paper published in PLOS One, researchers showed that, within the study, there were a听higher number of people diagnosed with short-sightedness听within the听younger population听than those听born between 1939 and 1944.

Short-sightedness is when objects in the distance appear blurred. It is thought to affect around听one in three people in the UK听and is听becoming more common. While often treatable with glasses or even surgery, this can be costly.

The team studied data from听107,442听people within the听UK Biobank study听aged between听40 and 69 years old. As part of the study everyone underwent a听detailed eye exam听and provided information about their听history of vision problems. This extensive data was then used to听study changing levels of short-sightedness听in听people born between 1939 and 1970.

The team found that听20%听of those born between听1939 and 1944听were short-sighted, whereas听29%听born between听1965 and 1970听were short-sighted.

As the large increase was seen in such a short period of time, the team believe that this听must be due to environmental factors听as genes do not change as quickly. They also noted that their data suggested this trend of increasing levels of short-sightedness began some time ago, and听not just in the past decade.

The researchers also looked at demographic data like ethnicity and gender to try and find other contributors to this rising levels of short-sightedness. For instance, they noted there was an听association between higher levels of education and short-sightedness, with the听link becoming stronger over time.

Senior author Professor Jugnoo Rahi听(果冻影院 Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, 果冻影院 Institute of Ophthalmology and Great Ormond Street Hospital) said: "There are lots of theories about what may be causing the increasing levels of short-sightedness, with a lot of interest in our changing 鈥榲iewing habits鈥�.鈥�

鈥淚n our lives we tend to do a lot more 鈥榥ear viewing鈥� particularly in education and our social lives. At the same time, we do less distance viewing (outside), especially as more and more people live in urban communities.鈥�

Professor Rahi also notes that we need to start looking at ways to听slow the rate of short-sightedness听as a population or we will have听increasing numbers of people with high levels of short-sightedness听(a prescription of greater than 鈥�5.0) which increases the chances of complications like blindness.

At the moment, there is听not conclusive evidence听that听changing our viewing habits, like听increasing our outdoor viewing, will combat this rise. However,听spending more time outdoors,听and therefore increasing our long-distance viewing, has other听well-established mental and physical benefits.

There are also听ongoing large-scale trials听to understand how interventions such as eye drops, or certain lenses may impact the progression of short-sightedness

Professor Rahi added: 鈥淭he causes of short-sightedness are complex with both genes and environment contributing. As societies evolve, the changing environment mean that the balance and relative importance of each may be changing.

"Our team has shown here that there is a听clear rise in the rates of short-sightedness, likely due to听changing environmental factors听and we now need to understand how we can slow these rises."

Links

• 果冻影院 Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
• 果冻影院 Institute of Ophthalmology

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• Credit: dusanpetkovic on iStock

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Chris Lane

Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9222

Email: chris.lane [at] ucl.ac.uk