Seeing into the future: What will myopia rates look like in 2050?

The next three decades could see huge changes in the global prevalence of myopia, with more people than ever before suffering from poor eyesight. A lecture to be held at the first ever BCLA Asia conference in Hong Kong next month will hear from myopia experts who will lay out their predictions and outline the potential severity of the situation in the years ahead. Padmaja Sankaridurg (pictured) will look at temporal trends to lay out her vision of how myopia levels will continue to grow over the next three decades.

She said: “Across the globe, in 2000 almost 23 per cent of the population was myopic.“The United States has seen the prevalence of myopia increase from 26 to 42 per cent in only three decades (1972 to 2002).
“A current snapshot shows alarming levels of myopia with South Korea reporting that 96.5 per cent of 19-year-old male army conscripts were myopic and in Taiwan 95.9 per cent of university freshmen were myopic.”

The lecture will also discuss a perceived increase of ‘high myopia’ – a more severe form of the condition ¬– and a potential rise in the number of eyes developing vision impairment or permanent blindness associated with high myopia.  
For example, in Taiwan, high myopia increased from 26 per cent of all myopia in 1988 to 40 per cent of all myopia in 2005.

The full results of the study will be presented during a lecture being held at 9.00am on Wednesday, September 14 as part of BCLA Asia at the Cordis Langham Place hotel in Hong Kong.
Find out more about the programme and to reserve your place here.