Increasing Prevalence of Myopia in Europe and the Impact of Education.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

To investigate whether myopia is becoming more common across Europe and explore whether increasing education levels, an important environmental risk factor for myopia, might explain any temporal trend.

Design

Meta-analysis of population-based, cross-sectional studies from the European Eye Epidemiology (E(3)) Consortium.

Participants

The E(3) Consortium is a collaborative network of epidemiological studies of common eye diseases in adults across Europe. Refractive data were available for 61 946 participants from 15 population-based studies performed between 1990 and 2013; participants had a range of median ages from 44 to 78 years.

Methods

Noncycloplegic refraction, year of birth, and highest educational level achieved were obtained for all participants.

SUBMITTER: Williams KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4504030 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature