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Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

economist.com

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Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#201

Post by EnKopVand »

viktoracoric wrote: post #198
sandstrom wrote: post #192

For several decades it has been known that myopia (nearsightedness) and intelligence are correlated[1][2]. Initially it was speculated that reading caused nearsightedness, and through that higher intelligence. There is probably some truth to that. But with modern DNA sequencing techniques researches has found genes that seem to affect both[3][4]. The hypothesis is that one (or a set of) genes affects both eye size gr…

Quoted post unavailable.

The beauty of science is that you don’t have to “believe” in it.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#202

Post by zamiaf »

sandstrom wrote: post #192

For several decades it has been known that myopia (nearsightedness) and intelligence are correlated[1][2]. Initially it was speculated that reading caused nearsightedness, and through that higher intelligence. There is probably some truth to that. But with modern DNA sequencing techniques researches has found genes that seem to affect both[3][4]. The hypothesis is that one (or a set of) genes affects both eye size gr…

The issue with these types of studies though is that there's no way to really parse out correlation vs causation, either between these two variables or with social factors at large. Especially in this case there was no molecular work done to validate the hits or establish causal pleiotropic effects. The authors are incentivized to tell a story but as readers I think we can be a little more skeptical and evaluate the likelihood of those kinds of claims (there's positive selection on genes that both increase "intelligence" and alter eye shape) versus like, environmental and social factors induce a correlation between needing glasses and reading...

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#203

Post by thaumasiotes »

Hellicio wrote: post #175
tominous wrote: post #149

Almost all children are born hypermetropic (far-sighted). The growth of the eyeball is calibrated by the amount of defocus (blur) experienced. More defocus, more growth, which reduces hypermetropia. My hypothesis is that less sunlight means wider pupils and more defocus (contrast to a pinhole camera), so more eye growth. Even with perfect eyesight, there's a 2-diopter difference between focussing blue light and red l…

Mine is genetic. I have very similiar values than my mother. So i'mnot sure if / how your theory is correct or not. Also there are a lot of normal people in the world who live outside and also don't have perfect eye sight at all. This goes back a long time. Can you also elaborate on your 2 diopter difference between red and blue light? For one i find that number very very big but i'm very good in seeing full color wi…

> Mine is genetic.

> I have very simil[a]r values than my mother.

Well, everything is genetic. The amount of sunlight you're exposed to is no less a genetic effect than how tall you grow to be. Without genes, you wouldn't have any behaviors or phenotypes at all.

So the interesting question is not "is this phenomenon genetic?", because the answer to that is always "yes". The interesting question is "what can influence this phenomenon?". In this case, we already know that (1) within a given culture, genetics are a strong predictor for myopia; and (2) once you do a cross-cultural comparison, the effect of culture absolutely overwhelms genetic measurements. Most people who become nearsighted in modern cultures would never become nearsighted in premodern cultures.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#204

Post by mdp2021 »

watwut wrote: post #148
ldx1024 wrote: post #79

It may just be a pet peeve, but it rankles me a bit when the term "epidemic" is used to describe widespread conditions that are not communicable/infectuous. Looking at the dictionary it appears the usage here is legitimate, but my guess would be that it is a misuse that has become accepted, like using the term "begging the question" to mean suggesting the question.

Given that it was used this way consistently for over hundred years including back in Homer text, one could argue it is not misuse at all. Medicine started to use already existing word, which is fine, but it does not mean original meaning must be erased.

The medical use is not strictly tied to infection, as the OP would have expected. In Hippocrates, "epidemic" vs "endemic" is akin to "temporary" vs "permanent".

Please do also see the sibling post from member 'one-more-minute'.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#205

Post by inopinatus »

robinduckett wrote: post #189
mikewarot wrote: post #126

Pet peeve about language use: I thought it was obvious that short-sightedness (Exclusively Short term thinking) is an epidemic, nobody on Wall Street can see past the next Quarter's numbers. I don't need the economist to point that out. Nearsightedness is what this article is about... a completely different thing. I've dealt with that my entire life... and just went through the knock-on effect of retina detachment, a…

This feeds into my pet peeve that Americans assume the world revolves around them and that all use of non American English is invalid despite the stereotype being that British English speaking people are worse for this.

I believe there is a Will Self story in which a geological probe reaches the Earth’s core and finds the compressed remains of an American around whom the planet is in fact revolving.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#206

Post by sschueller »

wiseowise wrote: post #39
nilsbunger wrote: post #2

I didn’t realize the evidence is strong that daylight keeps kids from becoming near-sighted. Making young kids study all the time is killing their eyesight!

I spent all my childhood outside and still near-sighted.

Same and I am very near-sighted.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#208

Post by zackees »

viktoracoric wrote: post #198
sandstrom wrote: post #192

For several decades it has been known that myopia (nearsightedness) and intelligence are correlated[1][2]. Initially it was speculated that reading caused nearsightedness, and through that higher intelligence. There is probably some truth to that. But with modern DNA sequencing techniques researches has found genes that seem to affect both[3][4]. The hypothesis is that one (or a set of) genes affects both eye size gr…

Quoted post unavailable.

This. I realized that it wasn’t necessarily genetic I may just have my monitor too close. I swapped it for a 70inch 4k monitor/tv six feet away and my eyesight improved by a quarter point over the next year.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#209

Post by paulryanrogers »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #200
ip26 wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly, reading is usually done indoors.

Yes; among other reasons, sunlight reflecting off the white pages of a book is bright enough to injure your eyes. The basic Kindle model is grey and can be comfortably read in sunlight, and yet somehow people are convinced that the "PaperWhite" model is better...

Perhaps some people read significantly more indoors or shade than direct sunlight

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#210

Post by yial »

viktoracoric wrote: post #198
sandstrom wrote: post #192

For several decades it has been known that myopia (nearsightedness) and intelligence are correlated[1][2]. Initially it was speculated that reading caused nearsightedness, and through that higher intelligence. There is probably some truth to that. But with modern DNA sequencing techniques researches has found genes that seem to affect both[3][4]. The hypothesis is that one (or a set of) genes affects both eye size gr…

Quoted post unavailable.

Number 3 is interesting , it’s a twin study. I still have to read more, but their best fit model has the same p value as storks delivering babies, if that helps you.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227763292_Storks_De...

Edit: I do wonder how some recent studies on myopia fit in with these other findings:

“ The decrease in heritability and the increased myopia prevalence in our sample may not be related to the age of the sample, but with the year of birth and the changes in the environment in what these subjects developed during the last two decades. Due to the higher academic skills of our study population, it can be considered that they have been highly exposed to one of the myopia risks factors related to abuse of near work and large periods exposed to low luminance environments11,19,20. Many studies showed an increasing trend of myopia incidence as we are approaching the era of modern industrialization along with increasing education level3,11,19,20. The older twin sample34 had in average a lower education level and possibly less prolonged near task. This may signify the connection of these trends with our obtained results with greater environmental influence on refractive error variance among studied millennials. The change in myopia prevalence is happening across the last few decades, where the increased offset cannot be explained by a change on genetic factors, as genetic evolution cannot take place in such short time span. On the other hand, less than 10% of the variance of refraction could be accounted for Genome-wide studies, where studies have identified, so far, more than 150 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with myopia44. Alternatively, the high heritability of refractive error observed in most of the twin studies can be a result of heritability overestimation by the classical twin study model. From any perspective, we must understand that heritability is the combined result of genotype and environment on a certain phenotypic trait. Hence, it appears that the sudden increase in myopia prevalence is a result of higher interaction with the environment.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65130-w

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