The pandemic may be to blame for spiralling levels of short-sightedness in children, researchers revealed today.
Experts have long warned it is because youngsters are spending less time outdoors and more time watching TV and playing video games.
But scientists said Covid, which saw millions forced to stay indoors, may have ‘accelerated vision deterioration’ in kids.
According to the landmark global analysis, one in three kids are now short-sighted or unable to see things in the distance clearly.
Globally, rates of myopia — the medical name for short-sightedness — tripled between 1990 and 2023, rising to 36 per cent.
Experts have long warned it is because youngsters are spending less time outdoors and more time watching TV and playing video games
The World Health Organization estimates more than half of the global population will be suffering from short-sightedness by 2050, compared to a third now, due to increases in time spent indoors and doing ‘near work’, such as spending more time on school work
Writing in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, the Chinese experts cautioned: ‘Emerging evidence suggests a potential association between the pandemic and accelerated vision deterioration among young adults.’
Short-sightedness occurs when the eyes grow slightly too long, causing light to focus just in front of the retina rather than on it, meaning distant objects appear blurred.
The condition often runs in families and has been linked to focusing on nearby objects, such as books and computers, for long periods in childhood.
Some 20million Britons and 137million Americans are thought to have it.
The World Health Organization estimates more than half of the global population will be suffering from short-sightedness by 2050 due to increases in time spent indoors and doing ‘near work’, such as school work.
But a previous global review on how prevalent the condition is only included studies up to 2015.
To calculate a more accurate picture, the researchers from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, analysed 276 studies involving more than five million children across 50 countries.
Geographic variables were accounted for, they said.
The highest rates were found in East Asia, with 86 per cent of children in Japan and 74 per cent in South Korea diagnosed with myopia.
Russia followed in third place with more than 40 per cent affected.
By comparison, Paraguay and Uganda recorded some of the lowest levels at around one per cent.
The UK and US stood at roughly 15 per cent.
According to the fresh research, the toll of myopia among children and teenagers is also set to top 740million cases by 2050.
Girls are likely to have higher rates than boys because they tend to spend less time doing outdoor activities at school and are at home as they grow up, researchers also suggested.
‘Despite these known limitations, given the large sample size included, our estimates of the prevalence of myopia are considered to be close to the precise number,’ they added.
Signs of the condition include sitting close to the TV, complaining of headaches or tired eyes and regularly rubbing their eyes.
UK eye experts have long advised children to spend at least two hours outside every day, particularly between the age of seven and nine, to reduce their chances of being short-sighted.
It is not clear if it is the presence of natural sunlight, the exercise taken outdoors or the fact that children’s eyes are focusing on objects that are further away that makes the difference.
‘There is something about being outside that is a real benefit to children,’ Daniel Hardiman-McCartney, clinical adviser from the UK College of Optometrists, said.
Myopia cannot be cured but it can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses.
Special lenses can slow down the development of myopia in young children by encouraging the eye to grow differently, but they are expensive.
