Nearsightedness: Prevention

To prevent myopia (nearsightedness), attention must be paid to reducing individual risk factors.

Behavioral causes

  • Staying in rooms with little daylight (5-fold risk).
  • Spending little time outdoors (“outdoor time”) and a lot of time doing close work (“near-vision time”) (15.9-fold increased risk)
  • Close work on the smartphone, computer, TV or other media.

Prevention factors (protective factors)

  • Emmetropic (normal-sighted) and already myopic (nearsighted) children should spend as much time as possible outdoors (outdoor activities) (positive effect of daylight):
    • Children who spent 40 minutes outdoors in addition to daily school hours were less likely to develop myopia than children who were not provided the additional daily outdoor school hour.
  • Increased UVB exposure at younger ages:
    • Age: 14-19 years: 19% reduction in myopia risk (odds ratio 0.81; 95 percent confidence interval 0.71-0.92)
    • Age: 20-39 years: 30% reduction (odds ratio 0.70; 0.62-0.93).

Secondary prevention