Myopia (myopia)

Main article: Vision

2024

Russia entered the top three countries with the worst vision in children

Russia entered the top three countries with the poorest vision in children and youth aged 5 to 19 years. Moreover, myopia (myopia) is more common among adolescents, and not among young children. This is stated in a study by Chinese specialists from Sun Yat-sen Zhongshan University, the results of which are presented at the end of September 2024.

It is reported that in the first place in the spread of myopia among young people as of 2023 is with an Japan indicator of 85.95%. This South Korea follows with 73.94%, and Russia closes the top three with 46.17%. Ophthalmologists point to an increase in the spread of myopia around the world: this is due, in particular, to the widespread use of gadgets, laptops, tablets and other electronic devices.

Marina Petrachkova, head of the Clinical and Diagnostic Center of the National Medical Research Center for Children's Health of the Ministry of Health of Russia, notes that the spread of myopia varies greatly depending on the geographical region and ethnic group. Thus, in urbanized and economically developed countries of East and Southeast Asia (Singapore, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea), 80-90% of school graduates have myopia, of which 10-20% have high-degree myopia. In Russia, almost 40% of graduates of secondary schools and over 50% of lyceums and gymnasiums suffer from myopia.

At the same time, Vladimir Neroyev, the chief freelance ophthalmologist of the Russian Ministry of Health, says that as of the beginning of 2024, the total incidence of diseases of the eye and its accessory apparatus among children in Russia is 14 186.3 per 100 thousand children, and the primary one is 4496.9 per 100 thousand. Moreover, myopia is most common: 35.1% in the age group under 14 years old and 59.3% among adolescents from 15 to 17 years old.^[1]

Honor has released a smartphone with a display that protects against myopia

At the end of August 2024, Honor announced the Magic V3 smartphone, equipped with special technology to prevent myopia. The applied solution was called AI Defocus, and it is based on artificial intelligence algorithms. Read more here

2023: A third of children around the world suffer from myopia

As of 2023, about a third of children and adolescents globally suffered from myopia (or myopia), and by 2050 this figure may increase to about 40%. Such data are given in a large-scale study of Chinese specialists from Sun Yat-sen Zhongshan University, the results of which were released at the end of September 2024.

The conclusions of the specialists are based on the analysis of 276 works in the relevant field, published before June 27, 2023. A total of 5,410,945 children and adolescents from 50 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania were collected. Data from all previously conducted studies were pooled with respect to geographical and other variables.

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The prevalence of myopia among children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years was 24.32% in 1990-2000 and 25.29% in 2001-2010. A sharp rise followed, to 29.66% in 2011-2019 and to 35.81% in 2020-2023. Myopia is most common in East Asians (35.22%) and urban areas (28.55%), in women (33.56%) and adolescents (47%), as well as in high school students (45.71%). If we consider individual countries, then most often myopia occurs in residents of Japan (85.95%), the Republic of Korea (73.94%) and Russia (46.17%).

Based on figures and trends through 2023, the researchers estimated that the global prevalence of myopia among children and adolescents is projected to reach 36.59% in 2040 and 39.8% in 2050. The rate is expected to be higher among girls and young women than boys and young men, and higher among adolescents aged 13 to 19 than adolescents aged 6 to 12.^[2]

2022: One in three adults in Russia suffers from myopia

Every 3-4 adult resident of Russia suffers from myopia. This was announced in mid-October 2022 by the chief freelance ophthalmologist of the Ministry of Health of Russia, director of the National Medical Research Center of Eye Diseases named after Helmholtz, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Neroyev.

According to him, the importance of reducing or losing vision is extremely high, since a person receives more than 80% of information about the world around him with the help of vision.

Every third adult resident of the Russian Federation suffers from myopia

Neroyev noted that the frequency of myopia in the lower grades of the school is 6-8%, and by the end of school almost 50%. All because the visual load of a student is comparable to the visual load of an adult.

As the chief freelance ophthalmologist of the Ministry of Health emphasized, modern diagnostic and treatment methods over the past 10 years have reduced the primary visual disability rate among adults in Russia by 33%, among children - by 28%.

At the same time, according to him, the preservation of acute vision is the task of not only the doctor, but also the patient. For the prevention of ophthalmic diseases, it is important to eat properly, observe the visual load regime, that is, working at a computer, take a break every 1.5 hours and perform daily eye gymnastics, as well as undergo medical examination and contact an ophthalmologist in a timely manner, the specialist explained.

By October 2022, the leading cause of vision disability in Russia is glaucoma. More than 1.3 million people in Russia have glaucoma. Timely detection of glaucoma, adequate treatment and rehabilitation allow patients to maintain their vision. People over 40 years old need to annually check intraocular pressure in order to detect glaucoma early, said the director of the National Medical Research Center of Eye Diseases named after Helmholtz, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.^[3]

2018

For 2018, myopia (myopia) ranks first among diseases associated with visual impairment, and half of the world's population is projected to suffer from the disease by 2050. For East Asia, the problem of myopia is especially acute: the incidence of myopia among young people is 80-97% in the region; among the sick, residents of cities prevail. In Singapore, 75% of teenagers wear glasses. The proportion of patients with myopia among children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 increased from 10 to 80% by 2018^[4].

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