Myopia Appears to Have Become More Common

[HuckleB]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091214163030.htm

"Myopia (nearsightedness) may have been more common in Americans from 1999 to 2004 than it was 30 years ago, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

"Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a common condition in which the image of an object seen in the distance is focused anterior to the retina and is consequently out of focus when it reaches the retina," according to background information in the article. "Blurred vision caused by myopia can be treated by corrective lenses (eyeglasses or contact lenses) or refractive surgery."

Susan Vitale, Ph.D., M.H.S., and colleagues at the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., compared U.S. population prevalence estimates for myopia from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in 4,436 black and white participants from 1971 to 1972 and in 8,339 black and white participants from 1999 to 2004. Participants' ages ranged from 12 to 54. The same methods were used to determine myopia during 1971 to 1972 and 1999 to 2004.

"The prevalence of myopia for individuals aged 12 to 54 years was statistically significantly higher in 1999 to 2004 than in 1971 to 1972 (41.6 percent vs. 25 percent, respectively)," the authors write. "Prevalence estimates were higher in 1999 to 2004 than in 1971 to 1972 for black individuals (33.5 percent vs. 13 percent, respectively) and white individuals (43 percent vs. 26.3 percent, respectively) and for all levels of myopia severity."

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Blackberry interesting.

[MineralMan]

1. That is interesting.

Maybe there's a homeopathetic remedy for that. :evilgrin:

[HuckleB]

2. BigWATER is all over it, I'm sure!

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Those differences are incredible--they're HUGE!

[Tumbulu]

4. My mother always said that tv and then later computers

"ruined ones eyes". What do you think could be the cause of this increase in the population?

I am severely myopic- my current correction is -12 + And I spend way too much time at the computer lately.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

5. I was a bookworm. Started reading at age three.

got glasses in 1962, needed them earlier than that.

Mom and dad and sis all had perfect vision, only wore reading glasses.

Then I hit forty and found out that yes, nearsighted people do wear bifocals.

[Warpy]

6. I was an early reader, too

and got glasses because my mother noticed I was reading the newspaper with the end of my nose at the age of four.

It's funny, though, one eye was nearsighted and one was farsighted. It's amazing I ever developed depth perception, at all. I've swapped back and forth as long as I can remember.

My nearsighted eye needed the transplant first. My farsighted eye is still stable for now, but will need one in the future. Being unable to read anything but the computer with ctrl+scroll used liberally was a humbling experience.

I'm not surprised people are getting more nearsighted. We're becoming a very data dependent people.

[Lithos]

7. I think I need to read this a little closer

...

[nickinSTL]

8. well...I'm not going to start panicking...

My vision is pretty much the same as my mom's was at my age (which would have been nearly 30 years ago).

My vision will likely be better 30 years from now than hers is - she has a disorder that I apparently don't, which has made her vision much worse than it otherwise would be.

I do seem to have inherited vision issues from both of my parents, though. Fairly severe myopia - at least in one eye, from my mom (my eyes are very different, both are myopic, but one is much worse than the other), and astigmatism from my dad.