Editorial | Greater focus on rise in Hong Kong myopia called for
- Home learning on portable devices by children during the pandemic has left many short-sighted, and it is a condition the city should be worried about
Hong Kong’s obsession with smartphones and tablets has long been perceived as harmful to eyesight and the cause of other health issues. The concern has deepened after a university study showed the Covid-19 pandemic had apparently led to an increase in myopia among children.
This trend may well worsen if the city continues with its unhealthy lifestyle.
Researchers at Chinese University’s department of ophthalmology and visual sciences are to be commended for focusing on an important aspect of health that is too often overlooked. Not surprisingly, the pandemic increased the amount of time children – having to learn from home – spent on screen, with the average number of hours each day jumping from four to almost seven.
The average amount of time spent outdoors daily also fell from 1.27 hours to merely 24 minutes. By the end of the eight-month study, about 20 per cent of children had developed short-sightedness.
Based on the results, the annual incidence rate of myopia was estimated to stand at 29.7 per cent, compared with just 11.6 per cent before the pandemic.
