Student or educator? Sign up with your school email and get 6 months of Pro free.
CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 610

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Global variations and time trends in the prevalence of childhood myopia, a systematic review and quantitative meta-analysis: implications for aetiology and early prevention

Open access
Rudnicka, Alicja R, Kapetanakis, Venediktos V, Wathern, Andrea K, Logan, Nicola S, Gilmartin, Bernard, Whincup, Peter H, Cook, Derek G, Owen, Christopher G·2016·British Journal of Ophthalmology
DOI 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2015-307724
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

The aim of this review was to quantify the global variation in childhood myopia prevalence over time taking account of demographic and study design factors. A systematic review identified population-based surveys with estimates of childhood myopia prevalence published by February 2015. Multilevel binomial logistic regression of log odds of myopia was used to examine the association with age, gender, urban versus rural setting and survey year, among populations of different ethnic origins, adjusting for study design factors. 143 published articles (42 countries, 374 349 subjects aged 1-18 years, 74 847 myopia cases) were included. Increase in myopia prevalence with age varied by ethnicity. East Asians showed the highest prevalence, reaching 69% (95% credible intervals (CrI) 61% to 77%) at 15 years of age (86% among Singaporean-Chinese). Blacks in Africa had the lowest prevalence; 5.5% at 15 years (95% CrI 3% to 9%). Time trends in myopia prevalence over the last decade were small in whites, increased by 23% in East Asians, with a weaker increase among South Asians. Children from urban environments have 2.6 times the odds of myopia compared with those from rural environments. In whites and East Asians sex differences emerge at about 9 years of age; by late adolescence girls are twice as likely as boys to be myopic. Marked ethnic differences in age-specific prevalence of myopia exist. Rapid increases in myopia prevalence over time, particularly in East Asians, combined with a universally higher risk of myopia in urban settings, suggest that environmental factors play an important role in myopia development, which may offer scope for prevention.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2015-307724

Cites

1 of 1 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

Show all 1 references

Research works printed but not linked: 84

  1. Junghans, 2002, Referral rates for a functional vision screening among a large cosmopolitan sample of Australian children, Ophthalmic Physiol Opt, 22, 10, 10.1046/j.1475-1313.2002.00010.x · doi:10.1046/j.1475-1313.2002.00010.x
  2. Kleinstein, 2003, Refractive error and ethnicity in children, Arch Ophthalmol, 121, 1141, 10.1001/archopht.121.8.1141 · DOI · Paper page
  3. Lam, 2004, Prevalence of myopia in local and international schools in Hong Kong, Optom Vis Sci, 81, 317, 10.1097/01.opx.0000134905.98403.18 · doi:10.1097/01.opx.0000134905.98403.18
  4. Cumberland, 2007, Inferring myopia over the lifecourse from uncorrected distance visual acuity in childhood, Br J Ophthalmol, 91, 151, 10.1136/bjo.2006.102277 · doi:10.1136/bjo.2006.102277
  5. Foster, 2014, Epidemiology of myopia, Eye (Lond), 28, 202, 10.1038/eye.2013.280 · DOI · Paper page
  6. Congdon, 2003, Important causes of visual impairment in the world today, JAMA, 290, 2057, 10.1001/jama.290.15.2057 · DOI · Paper page
  7. Gilmartin, 2004, Myopia: precedents for research in the twenty-first century, Clin Experiment Ophthalmol, 32, 305, 10.1111/j.1442-9071.2004.00831.x · DOI
  8. Kempen, 2004, The prevalence of refractive errors among adults in the United States, Western Europe, and Australia, Arch Ophthalmol, 122, 495, 10.1001/archopht.122.4.495 · DOI · Paper page
  9. Morgan, 2012, Myopia, Lancet, 379, 1739, 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60272-4 · DOI · Paper page
  10. Rudnicka, 2008, Effect of breastfeeding and sociodemographic factors on visual outcome in childhood and adolescence, Am J Clin Nutr, 87, 1392, 10.1093/ajcn/87.5.1392 · DOI
  11. Williams, 2008, A comparison of measures of reading and intelligence as risk factors for the development of myopia in a UK cohort of children, Br J Ophthalmol, 92, 1117, 10.1136/bjo.2007.128256 · DOI
  12. Rudnicka, 2010, Ethnic differences in the prevalence of myopia and ocular biometry in 10- and 11-year-old children: The child heart and health study in england (CHASE), Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 51, 6270, 10.1167/iovs.10-5528 · doi:10.1167/iovs.10-5528
  13. O'Donoghue, 2010, Refractive error and visual impairment in school children in Northern Ireland, Br J Ophthalmol, 94, 1155, 10.1136/bjo.2009.176040 · DOI · Paper page
  14. Ip, 2008, Ethnic differences in refraction and ocular biometry in a population-based sample of 11–15-year-old Australian children, Eye, 22, 649, 10.1038/sj.eye.6702701 · DOI · Paper page
  15. Logan, 2011, Childhood ethnic differences in ametropia and ocular biometry: the Aston Eye Study, Ophthalmic Physiol Opt, 31, 550, 10.1111/j.1475-1313.2011.00862.x · DOI
  16. Saw, 2003, A synopsis of the prevalence rates and environmental risk factors for myopia, Clin Exp Optom, 86, 289, 10.1111/j.1444-0938.2003.tb03124.x · doi:10.1111/j.1444-0938.2003.tb03124.x
  17. Saw, 2006, Ethnicity-specific prevalences of refractive errors vary in Asian children in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore, Br J Ophthalmol, 90, 1230, 10.1136/bjo.2006.093450 · doi:10.1136/bjo.2006.093450
  18. Fan, 2004, Prevalence, incidence, and progression of myopia of school children in Hong Kong, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 45, 1071, 10.1167/iovs.03-1151 · DOI · Paper page
  19. Quek, 2004, Prevalence of refractive errors in teenage high school students in Singapore, Ophthalmic Physiol Opt, 24, 47, 10.1046/j.1475-1313.2003.00166.x · DOI · Paper page
  20. Dandona, 1999, Refractive errors in an urban population in southern India: The Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 40, 2810
  21. Dandona, 2002, Refractive error in children in a rural population in India, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 43, 615
  22. Kalikivayi, 1997, Visual impairment in school children in Southern India, Indian J Ophthalmol, 45, 129
  23. Murthy, 2002, Refractive error in children in an urban population in New Delhi, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 43, 623
  24. Morgan, 2005, How genetic is school myopia?, Prog Retin Eye Res, 24, 1, 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2004.06.004 · DOI · Paper page
  25. Pan, 2012, Worldwide prevalence and risk factors for myopia, Ophthalmic Physiol Opt, 32, 3, 10.1111/j.1475-1313.2011.00884.x · DOI · Paper page
  26. Lunn, 2009, The BUGS project: evolution, critique and future directions, Stat Med, 28, 3049, 10.1002/sim.3680 · DOI · Paper page
  27. Kapetanakis, 2016, Global variations and time trends in the prevalence of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG): a systematic review and meta-analysis, Br J Ophthalmol, 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2015-307223 · DOI · Paper page
  28. Richler, 1980, The distribution of refraction in 3 isolated communities in Western Newfoundland, Am J Optom Physiol Opt, 57, 861, 10.1097/00006324-198011000-00012 · doi:10.1097/00006324-198011000-00012
  29. Lam, 2012, Prevalence of myopia among Hong Kong Chinese schoolchildren: changes over two decades, Ophthalmic Physiol Opt, 32, 17, 10.1111/j.1475-1313.2011.00886.x · doi:10.1111/j.1475-1313.2011.00886.x
  30. Ip, 2008, Myopia and the urban environment: findings in a sample of 12-year-old Australian school children, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 49, 3858, 10.1167/iovs.07-1451 · doi:10.1167/iovs.07-1451
  31. Yingyong, 2010, Refractive errors survey in primary school children (6–12 year old) in 2 provinces: Bangkok and Nakhonpathom (one year result), J Med Assoc Thai, 93, 1205
  32. Garner, 1999, Prevalence of myopia in Sherpa and Tibetan children in Nepal, Optom Vis Sci, 76, 282, 10.1097/00006324-199905000-00014 · DOI
  33. Zhang, 2000, Refractive errors in Singapore and Xiamen, China: a comparative study in school children aged 6 to 7 years, Optom Vis Sci, 77, 302, 10.1097/00006324-200006000-00010 · doi:10.1097/00006324-200006000-00010
  34. Lin, 2001, Epidemiologic study of the prevalence and severity of myopia among school children in Taiwan in 2000, J Formos Med Assoc, 100, 684
  35. Saw, 2001, Near-work activity and myopia in rural and urban schoolchildren in China, J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus, 38, 149, 10.3928/0191-3913-20010501-08 · DOI
  36. Khan, 2005, Prevalence of refractive errors in school children, JK Practitioner, 12, 156
  37. Fotouhi, 2007, The prevalence of refractive errors among schoolchildren in Dezful, Iran, Br J Ophthalmol, 91, 287, 10.1136/bjo.2006.099937 · doi:10.1136/bjo.2006.099937
  38. Czepita, 2007, Prevalence of myopia and hyperopia in a population of Polish schoolchildren, Ophthalmic Physiol Opt, 27, 60, 10.1111/j.1475-1313.2006.00419.x · DOI
  39. Uzma, 2009, A comparative clinical survey of the prevalence of refractive errors and eye diseases in urban and rural school children, Can J Ophthalmol, 44, 328, 10.3129/i09-030 · doi:10.3129/i09-030
  40. Padhye, 2009, Prevalence of uncorrected refractive error and other eye problems among urban and rural school children, Middle East Afr J Ophthalmol, 16, 69, 10.4103/0974-9233.53864 · doi:10.4103/0974-9233.53864
  41. Zhang, 2010, Population density and refractive error among Chinese children, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 51, 4969, 10.1167/iovs.10-5424 · DOI
  42. Gao, 2012, Refractive error in school children in an urban and rural setting in Cambodia, Ophthalmic Epidemiol, 19, 16, 10.3109/09286586.2011.632703 · DOI
  43. Wu, 2013, Refractive error, visual acuity and causes of vision loss in children in Shandong, China. The Shandong children eye study, PLoS ONE, 8, e82763, 10.1371/journal.pone.0082763 · DOI · Paper page
  44. Lin, 1988, Study of myopia among aboriginal school children in Taiwan, Acta Ophthalmologica, 66, 34, 10.1111/j.1755-3768.1988.tb02658.x · doi:10.1111/j.1755-3768.1988.tb02658.x
  45. Au Eong, 1993, Race, culture and Myopia in 110,236 young Singaporean males, Singapore Med J, 34, 29
  46. Wu, 2001, Does education explain ethnic differences in myopia prevalence? A population-based study of young adult males in Singapore, Optom Vis Sci, 78, 234, 10.1097/00006324-200104000-00012 · doi:10.1097/00006324-200104000-00012 · Paper page
  47. He, 2004, Refractive error and visual impairment in urban children in southern China, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 45, 793, 10.1167/iovs.03-1051 · DOI · Paper page
  48. Shih, 2010, Comparing myopic progression of urban and rural Taiwanese schoolchildren, Jpn J Ophthalmol, 54, 446, 10.1007/s10384-010-0860-7 · DOI
  49. Tay, 1992, Myopia and educational attainment in 421,116 young Singaporean males, Ann Acad Med Singap, 21, 785
  50. Williams, 2015, Increasing Prevalence of Myopia in Europe and the Impact of Education, Ophthalmology, 122, 1489, 10.1016/j.ophtha.2015.03.018 · DOI · Paper page
  51. Saw, 2002, Nearwork in early-onset myopia, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 43, 332
  52. Mutti, 2002, Parental myopia, near work, school achievement, and children's refractive error, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 43, 3633
  53. Ip, 2008, Role of near work in myopia: findings in a sample of Australian school children, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 49, 2903, 10.1167/iovs.07-0804 · DOI · Paper page
  54. Lu, 2009, Associations Between Near Work, Outdoor Activity, and Myopia Among Adolescent Students in Rural China The Xichang Pediatric Refractive Error Study Report No. 2, Archives of Ophthalmology, 127, 769, 10.1001/archophthalmol.2009.105 · DOI · Paper page
  55. Rose, 2008, Myopia, lifestyle, and schooling in students of Chinese ethnicity in Singapore and Sydney, Arch Ophthalmol, 126, 527, 10.1001/archopht.126.4.527 · DOI · Paper page
  56. Dirani, 2010, Prevalence of refractive error in Singaporean Chinese children: The Strabismus, Amblyopia, and Refractive Error in young Singaporean Children (STARS) study, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 51, 1348, 10.1167/iovs.09-3587 · DOI · Paper page
  57. Anera, 2006, Prevalence of refractive errors in school-age children in Burkina Faso, Jpn J Ophthalmol, 50, 483, 10.1007/s10384-006-0354-9 · doi:10.1007/s10384-006-0354-9
  58. Jimenez, 2012, Ametropias in school-age children in Fada N'Gourma (Burkina Faso, Africa), Optom Vis Sci, 89, 33, 10.1097/OPX.0b013e318238b3dd · doi:10.1097/opx.0b013e318238b3dd
  59. Khader, 2006, Prevalence and risk indicators of myopia among schoolchildren in Amman, Jordan, East Mediterr Health J, 12, 434
  60. Saw, 2006, A cohort study of incident myopia in Singaporean children, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 47, 1839, 10.1167/iovs.05-1081 · DOI · Paper page
  61. Jones, 2007, Parental history of myopia, sports and outdoor activities, and future myopia, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 48, 3524, 10.1167/iovs.06-1118 · DOI · Paper page
  62. Dirani, 2009, Outdoor activity and myopia in Singapore teenage children, Br J Ophthalmol, 93, 997, 10.1136/bjo.2008.150979 · DOI
  63. Wu, 2010, Effects of outdoor activities on Myopia among rural school children in Taiwan, Ophthalmic Epidemiol, 17, 338, 10.3109/09286586.2010.508347 · DOI
  64. Guggenheim, 2012, Time outdoors and physical activity as predictors of incident myopia in childhood: a prospective cohort study, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 53, 2856, 10.1167/iovs.11-9091 · DOI · Paper page
  65. Jones-Jordan, 2011, Visual activity before and after the onset of juvenile myopia, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 52, 1841, 10.1167/iovs.09-4997 · DOI · Paper page
  66. Li, 2015, Time outdoors and myopia progression over 2 years in Chinese children: the anyang childhood eye study, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 56, 4734, 10.1167/iovs.14-15474 · doi:10.1167/iovs.14-15474
  67. Sherwin, 2012, The association between time spent outdoors and myopia in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Ophthalmology, 119, 2141, 10.1016/j.ophtha.2012.04.020 · DOI · Paper page
  68. Deere, 2009, Myopia and later physical activity in adolescence: a prospective study, Br J Sports Med, 43, 542, 10.1136/bjsm.2008.049288 · DOI
  69. Rose, 2008, Outdoor activity reduces the prevalence of myopia in children, Ophthalmology, 115, 1279, 10.1016/j.ophtha.2007.12.019 · DOI · Paper page
  70. Lin, 1999, Epidemiologic study of ocular refraction among schoolchildren in Taiwan in 1995, Optom Vis Sci, 76, 275, 10.1097/00006324-199905000-00013 · doi:10.1097/00006324-199905000-00013
  71. Zadnik, 2003, Ocular component data in schoolchildren as a function of age and gender, Optom Vis Sci, 80, 226, 10.1097/00006324-200303000-00012 · doi:10.1097/00006324-200303000-00012 · Paper page
  72. He, 2005, Need and challenges of refractive correction in urban Chinese school children, Optom Vis Sci, 82, 229, 10.1097/01.OPX.0000159362.48835.16 · doi:10.1097/01.opx.0000159362.48835.16
  73. He, 2007, Refractive error and visual impairment in school children in rural southern China, Ophthalmology, 114, 374, 10.1016/j.ophtha.2006.08.020 · DOI · Paper page
  74. Goh, 2005, Refractive error and visual impairment in school-age children in Gombak District, Malaysia, Ophthalmology, 112, 678, 10.1016/j.ophtha.2004.10.048 · doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2004.10.048
  75. Zhang, 2011, Validating the accuracy of a model to predict the onset of myopia in children, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 52, 5836, 10.1167/iovs.10-5592 · DOI
  76. Pokharel, 2000, Refractive error study in children: results from Mechi Zone, Nepal, Am J Ophthalmol, 129, 436, 10.1016/S0002-9394(99)00453-5 · DOI · Paper page
  77. Maul, 2000, Refractive error study in children: results from La Florida, Chile, Am J Ophthalmol, 129, 445, 10.1016/S0002-9394(99)00454-7 · DOI · Paper page
  78. Naidoo, 2003, Refractive error and visual impairment in African children in South Africa, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 44, 3764, 10.1167/iovs.03-0283 · doi:10.1167/iovs.03-0283
  79. Rahi, 2011, Myopia over the lifecourse: prevalence and early life influences in the 1958 British birth cohort, Ophthalmology, 118, 797, 10.1016/j.ophtha.2010.09.025 · DOI · Paper page
  80. Wong, 2000, Prevalence and risk factors for refractive errors in adult Chinese in Singapore, Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 41, 2486
  81. Farhood, 2012, Cycloplegic refraction in children with cyclopentolate versus atropine, J Clin Exp Ophthalmol, 3, 239, 10.4172/2155-9570.1000239 · doi:10.4172/2155-9570.1000239
  82. Williams, 2008, The use of non-cycloplegic autorefraction data in general studies of children's development, Br J Ophthalmol, 92, 723, 10.1136/bjo.2007.136051 · doi:10.1136/bjo.2007.136051
  83. Zhao, 2004, Accuracy of noncycloplegic autorefraction in school-age children in China, Optom Vis Sci, 81, 49, 10.1097/00006324-200401000-00010 · doi:10.1097/00006324-200401000-00010
  84. Choong, 2006, A comparison of autorefraction and subjective refraction with and without cycloplegia in primary school children, Am J Ophthalmol, 142, 68, 10.1016/j.ajo.2006.01.084 · DOI · Paper page

Cited by

See all 610

Metadata

Authors
Rudnicka, A. R., Kapetanakis, V. V., Wathern, A. K., Logan, N. S., Gilmartin, B., Whincup, P. H., Cook, D. G., & Owen, C. G.
Venue
British Journal of Ophthalmology
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2016-01-22
Volume
100
Issue
7
Pages
882-890
ISSN
  • 0007-1161 (ISSN-L)
  • 1468-2079
DOI
10.1136/bjophthalmol-2015-307724
OpenAlex
W2289808052
Cited by
610
References
1
FWCI
6.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
hybrid

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Global variations and time trends in the prevalence of childhood myopia, a systematic review and quantitative meta-analysis: implications for aetiology and early prevention. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1136/bjophthalmol-2015-307724
The paper
Rudnicka, A. R., Kapetanakis, V. V., Wathern, A. K., Logan, N. S., Gilmartin, B., Whincup, P. H., Cook, D. G., & Owen, C. G. (2016). Global variations and time trends in the prevalence of childhood myopia, a systematic review and quantitative meta-analysis: implications for aetiology and early prevention. British Journal of Ophthalmology. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjophthalmol-2015-307724

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.