Myopia cases among urban Indian children has tripled in last 20 years, claims expert

New Delhi: During the ongoing Myopia Awareness Week, eye specialists at Dr. Agarwals Eye Hospital in Mumbai have issued a stark warning regarding the increasing prevalence of myopia among urban Indian children.

According to their projections, as many as one-third of all urban children aged 5-15 years in India are expected to suffer from myopia by the year 2030, with this figure predicted to rise to one in every two children by 2050. Between 1999 and 2019, the incidence of myopia has tripled, escalating from 4.44% to 21.15%, respectively.

Dr. Smit M Bavariya, a Cataract Surgeon at Dr. Agarwals Eye Hospital, expressed alarm over the rising number of myopia cases, particularly among younger children. He stated, “We have been witnessing a steady increase in the number of myopia cases in urban children over the last few years. About 120,000 myopic patients under the age of 20 visit Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospital every year across India. The prevalence of myopia in 5 to 15-year-old urban children increased from 4.4% in 1999 to 21.1% in 2019. Our predictions, based on the slope of 0.8% every year, indicate that the prevalence of myopia among urban children will increase to 31.89% in 2030, 40% in 2040 and 48.1% in 2050. This means that one out of every two children in India will be suffering from myopia in the next 25 years, up from one in four currently.”

Added Dr. Smit M Bavariya: “The patient profile has also been changing over the years. Younger kids are now coming in frequently for an eye checkup and more and more of them are getting diagnosed with myopia. We currently see many cases of moderate myopia in school- going children between the ages of 5 to 17 years. In 2017, our survey of 1,000 children aged between 3-15 in an urban slum area of Mumbai, found that 200 had myopia.”

 Dr. Bavariya highlights several factors contributing to the rapid rise in myopia cases among children. These include premature delivery of babies, sedentary lifestyle, excessive near work, reduced outdoor activities, prolonged screen usage, poor lighting conditions, and the design of single vision spectacle lenses currently being dispensed, which can result in hyperopic defocus. He said: “The root causes of this escalating issue are multifaceted. Excessive screen time stimulates the eyes, retina, and brain of children, leading to accelerated myopic changes due to rapid eyeball growth. Additionally, a decline in outdoor activities deprives children of essential natural light exposure crucial for healthy eye development.”

Dr. Smit M Bavariya added: “Recognizing the symptoms of myopia in children is important for early intervention. Symptoms include blurry vision, difficulty seeing distant objects, eye strain, headaches, and fatigue—particularly after prolonged screen use. Though the condition cannot be cured, it can be helped with glasses or contact lenses. Laser vision correction treatment can also be opted for after the age of 19 years. But it is important to have regular eye check-ups, encourage children for outdoor activities to balance screen time, and consider interventions like atropine eye drops or myopia control glasses to slow further progression of myopia.”

Dr. Bavariya recommended various measures for myopia prevention and control. These include infusing in natural light by engaging in outdoor activities for at least two hours daily, maintaining a distance of 30 cm from electronic devices, maintaining a good reading posture, avoiding device usage in the dark, following the 20-20-20 rule to alleviate eye strain, maintaining a balanced diet, and scheduling regular eye checkups for children, especially if there’s a family history of myopia. These steps, suggested by Dr. Bavariya, are essential for preventing and managing myopia.

Dr. Bavariya also warned of potential myopia complications, including cataracts, retinal detachment, myopia foveoschisis, macular hole, and glaucoma. According to him, prompt detection and treatment are essential to prevent complications such as amblyopia (lazy eye syndrome) from developing. In light of these alarming projections, raising awareness about myopia and its associated risks becomes imperative to safeguard the eye health of India’s children.