Firstborn Children More Likely To Be Near-Sighted

New research showed that the possibility of becoming nearsighted is more or less upper in firstborn little ones, than the other adolescent children.

Researchers examined the birth order and near-sightedness in around 89,000 people.

Study lead author Jeremy Guggenheim, a professor of optometry and vision sciences at Cardiff University’s Eye Clinic said in a statement that the first born children have 10% likelihood to develop myopia and 20% of the eldest siblings during the study showed signs of severe nearsightedness.

When it comes to their firstborn child, parents may invest more effort and time in their education, which means that firstborn children may engage in more activities – excessive reading, working on a computer, or any other activity that might cause visual stress – that increase the risk of myopia. [5 Experts Answer: What’s the Best Way to Preserve My Eyesight?]. Myopia is a growing concern among developing countries including India and China where childhood nearsightedness have skyrocketed in the past years, TIME has learned. The researchers determined the odds for myopia and by birth order, adjusting for age and sex, and education.

The researchers stated that the risk of nearsightedness and birth order may be linked by other factors as well, apart from education.

The report suggests that spending more time outdoors reduces nearsightedness rates.

Their findings support a worldwide trend.

Authors reached the conclusion that myopia – the scientific term for nearsightedness – is tightly connected to the child’s level of education.

To make sure that there wasn’t something about having lots of kids that could affect eyesight, Guggenheim and his colleagues compared families with two children to the entire database, and found the relationship between myopia, firstborns and later siblings to be pretty much the same.

Among all the participants in the study, 30 percent had myopia. The team in charge with the research combined behavioral information from the participants, such as how much time they spend outdoors, with demographic data, educational history, and their eye condition and ophtalmological events. The rate of nearsightedness is rising among younger generations in many regions of the world. He said though related literatures did not explicitly indicate that education was the cause, it has been a recurring factor among their respondents.