Myopia increasing in Europe
The incidence of myopia in Europe is increasing and the condition is more prevalent in those born more recently than in older generations, according to a meta-analysis of population-based, cross-sectional studies from the European Eye Epidemiology (E3) Consortium.
The meta-analysis, which was led by researchers at King's College London, examined the results of 15 studies totaling more than 60,000 individuals. It was published in
The major finding was that while about one-quarter (24.3%) of the overall European population suffers from myopia, the condition is nearly twice as common in younger people: nearly one-half (47%) of those of aged between 25 and 29 years have myopia.
In their meta-analysis of 61,946 adults, the researchers obtained noncycloplegic refraction, year of birth, and highest educational level achieved from all of the participants. For the purposes of this analysis, myopia was defined as a mean spherical equivalent of ≤−0.75 diopters.
The researchers performed a random-effects meta-analysis of age-specific myopia prevalence. Sequential analyses were stratified by year of birth and by the participants’ highest level of education attained.
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