Children’s vision continues to deteriorate and one in three is now short-sighted or unable to see things clearly at a distance, a global analysis shows.

Researchers say the Covid lockdown had a negative impact on eyesight as children spent more time on screens and less time outside.

The study warns that short-sightedness, or myopia, is a growing global health concern that will affect millions of children by 2050.

The highest rates are in Asia – 85% of children in Japan and 73% of children in South Korea are short-sighted and more than 40% are affected in China and Russia.

The levels of myopia were lowest in Paraguay and Uganda, at around 1%, followed by the UK, Ireland and the US at around 15%.

the study, Published in the British Journal of OphthalmologyThe study looked at more than five million children and adolescents from 50 countries on all six continents.

Their number-crunching revealed that short-sightedness tripled between 1990 and 2023 – increasing by 36%.

And researchers say the increase was “particularly notable” after the Covid pandemic.

Myopia usually begins during the elementary school years and worsens until around age 20, when the eye stops growing.

There are factors that make this more likely – living in East Asia is one of them.

It also depends on genetics – the traits children inherit from their parents – but there are other factors too, such as the particularly young age (two years) when children start their education in places like Singapore and Hong Kong. We do.

This means they’re spending more time with their eyes focused on books and screens during their formative years, which strains the eye muscles and can lead to myopia, research shows.

In Africa, where schooling begins at six to eight years of age, myopia is seven times less common than in Asia.

During the Covid lockdown across the world, when millions of people had to stay indoors for long periods, the eyesight of children and teenagers was affected.

“Emerging evidence suggests a possible association between the pandemic and accelerated vision decline in young adults,” the researchers wrote.

Research estimates that the condition could affect more than half of adolescents worldwide by 2050.

Studies show that girls and young women are likely to have higher rates than boys and young men because they spend less time in outdoor activities at school and at home as they grow up.

Girls’ growth and development, including puberty, begins earlier, which means they are more likely to experience nearsightedness at an earlier age.

Although researchers say Asia is expected to have the highest levels of all other continents by 2050, at around 69%, developing countries could also reach 40%.

UK eye experts say children should spend at least two hours outside every day, especially between the ages of seven and nine, to reduce the chances of them becoming short-sighted.

It is not clear whether it is the presence of natural sunlight, the exercise done outside or the fact that children’s eyes are focusing on distant objects that makes the difference.

“There is something about being outside that is really beneficial for children,” says Daniel Hardiman-McCartney, clinical consultant at the UK College of Optometrists.

He also recommends that parents take their children for an eye exam when they are seven to 10 years old, even if their vision has been checked at an earlier age.

Parents should also pay attention – myopia runs in families. If you are short-sighted, your children are three times more likely to be short-sighted than others.

Myopia cannot be cured but it can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses.

special lens The development of myopia in young children can be slowed by encouraging the eyes to develop differently, but they are expensive.

In Asia, where these special lenses are very popular, Glass classrooms that mimic outdoor learning is also being used.

The concern is that high rates of myopia may lead to a large number of abnormal eye conditions in old age.

• Difficulty reading words from a distance, such as reading a whiteboard at school
• Sitting close to a TV or computer, or holding a mobile phone or tablet close to the face
• having a headache
• rubbing eyes a lot