Myopia: public health challenges and interventions [editorial]

• Autor(a) principal: Iribarren, Rafael
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Grzybowski, Andrzej, Lança, Carla
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/14971
• topic: Ophthalmology; Myopia; Public health; Confinement; COVID-19; Lockdown; Screen time

Most school myopia results from an excessive eye axial length that develops in childhood. In the past three decades, there have been significant increases in the prevalence of childhood myopia. By 2050, half of the world's population is expected to have myopia, a 2-fold increase compared to the year 2000. In the last years, the achievements made by scientists have been exceptional, leading to major advancements in the treatment of myopia progression. This Research Topic comprises 14 studies including original research articles and reviews covering several aspects of myopia. Myopia has become one of the fastest-growing eye health challenges of the twenty-first century, with a disproportionate burden on urban Asia regions. Shi et al. conducted a study on temporal and spatial characterization of myopia in China. The authors showed that there was an increase in the prevalence of myopia in children aged 7–18 years old from 1995 to 2014. The study results also showed a shift of myopia to the southeast, identifying the existence of high-risk areas. Those results are important for targeted myopia prevention.