Global Myopia: Theories Behind this Epidemic and how to Prevent Progression in Children

Aim: Myopia, also known as near or short sightedness, is a common refractive defect that generally develops in childhood.This is mainly owing to an elongated eye on axial length, with focusing power of the cornea and/or lens being a less common cause.This leads to the focus of light in front of, instead of, directly on the retina.Uncorrected refractive error is the most common cause for visual impairment and is responsible for the 2nd most common cause of blindness worldwide.Holden., et al. predicted the rise of prevalence in myopia to nearly 50% of the global population by the year 2050 and that a higher proportion of this group would develop moderate to severe myopia.The current alarming trends validate these predictions and has spurred a surge in studies to understand the underlying causes.The process of myopia is still unclear, however there are several hypotheses that describe the development of myopia.There is a varying degree of responsibility that may be attributed to both genetic and environmental variables.There are a variety of treatment options available to treat and manage this condition, but it is apparent that understanding the mechanisms involved in delaying myopia onset and decreasing its advancement will be the key to lowering the rapid growth in global prevalence. Methods:In this systematic review Medline OVID and Medline Embase are the two databases that were used to search for appropriate material for critical evaluation.The appropriateness of each article and reference was manually assessed before selecting them.Therefore, the important concepts to construct my thesis reflect the global prevalence of myopia, the aetiologias and prevention methods especially in children.The articles must be centered around these concepts and are identified and selected if these search terms were included in the title and abstract.Results/Discussion: The analysis determines that there are many variables contributing to the myopia epidemic.Theories that have proposed in relation to myopia development has only recently been hypothesized, with no strong conclusions being derived in human trials.However, it is understood that increased near work and reduced day light do allow myopia progression. Conclusions:The objective of this research is to evaluate the evidence on various therapies and strategies in order to help family doctors deliver the best recommendations to patients and their families.This myopic rise is not only significant enough to warrant investigation, but the frequency of high-grade myopia is linked to a variety of debilitating illnesses.