Students in Far East prone to high myopia

Researchers writing in The Lancet (May 5) have blamed intense levels of education in eastern Asia for an epidemic of myopia that is now affecting between 80 and 90 per cent of school leavers.

Between 10-20 per cent of sufferers in major cities in China, Japan and South Korea had 'high' myopia and researchers noted that similar, but less marked, changes were occurring in other parts of the world.

Professor Ian Morgan from the Australian National University in Canberra and colleagues suggested that the higher prevalence of myopia in Asian cities seemed to be associated with increasing educational pressures, combined with lifestyle changes, which have reduced the time children spend outside.