Myopia in children
Shortsightedness is a common refractive error in children. Pediatric ophthalmologists need to examine all school age children to diagnose the myopia in this age group early. They also need to assess myopia children for the rate of their myopia progression, and the possibilities to develop degenerative myopia, and other myopia complications.
The prevalence of myopia in children
Myopia is quite a common pediatric complaint in the world. A study in Australia found that 14.4% of 12-year-old children have myopia, and 29.6% of a 17- year- old children have myopia.
A meta-analysis and systemic reviews by Agarwal et al. found that 7.5% of Indian children have myopia, with a higher incidence in rural areas. Another study conducted in southern California found that between 60,780 children participated in the study, 41.4% had myopia, with higher incident in the Asian American children more than Whites, and African American.
In Saudi Arabia, the prevalence was 0.7%, and was 1.4% in South America. The highest prevalence of myopia in children was recorded in East Asia, China, and Singapore.
