3 ms·

> There isn't an economic incentive to fund studies to determine why they don't work in others, since this could hurt various revenue streams. I could be incre

by pfranz 9y ago

> There isn't an economic incentive to fund studies to determine why they don't work in others, since this could hurt various revenue streams. I could be incredibly naive, but it sounds like a public health issue. Depending on how widespread it is, I can see any country organizing a study or pilot program. The country wouldn't have economic competition from big pharma and would see having a healthy and skilled population as an economic advantage.

walterbell 9y ago
The global numbers for myopia are rising in children, https://www.brienholdenvision.org/myopia-prevalence.html https://www.brienholdenvision.org/myopia-prevalence.html, "The hot spots of myopia right now are in East Asia where countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China and Japan have a prevalence of myopia of 80 to 90% but even the USA has reported a staggering prevalence of 42%, almost doubling in three decades." A few behavioral optometrists have spoken up or published books on these topics, but they are a tiny minority, e.g. https://vision-therapy-pa.com https://vision-therapy-pa.com
- xenadu02 9y ago
  I can't find the link but I seem to remember a study found that exposure to sunlight (at least the level found on an overcast day) was required for ~4 hours per day to prevent myopia. This link had been suspected previously but they found a mechanism of action. The eyeball itself would release regulatory chemicals at night after the daytime exposure that inhibited growth of the eyeball. Since myopia is most often caused by the eye being slightly too large this seems like a plausible explanation. It certainly makes more sense than the previous theory about spending too much time indoors - that somehow you would spend too much time focusing closely since distances indoors are limited.
  - oolongtea 9y ago
    The article you're referring to might be this one: http://bjo.bmj.com/content/early/2017/06/12/bjophthalmol-2017-310292 http://bjo.bmj.com/content/early/2017/06/12/bjophthalmol-201... (Alas, it's not Open Access) I also remember reading an earlier news article in Nature on this exact topic: https://www.nature.com/news/the-myopia-boom-1.17120 https://www.nature.com/news/the-myopia-boom-1.17120
  - sowbug 9y ago
    That's fascinating. I didn't see this exact point in the Nature article linked below, but is it as simple as your body needing bigger eyes to see in the dark?
TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
> I could be incredibly naive ... The country wouldn't have economic competition from big pharma Yep. The USA has to be the most egregious example of this, other countries aren't immune.
- pfranz 9y ago
  That's clearly not the case in all parts of the world. China and India often ignore patents and trade secrets to produce generic drugs for domestic use. I often hear about how useful donating used prescription glasses are to people in need in other countries like Africa and China. I imagine this would be a similar program that would be aimed at prevention. I would think any influence of big pharma would affect prescription glasses distribution programs in the same way.

by pfranz 9y ago

walterbell 9y ago

The global numbers for myopia are rising in children, https://www.brienholdenvision.org/myopia-prevalence.html https://www.brienholdenvision.org/myopia-prevalence.html, "The hot spots of myopia right now are in East Asia where countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China and Japan have a prevalence of myopia of 80 to 90% but even the USA has reported a staggering prevalence of 42%, almost doubling in three decades." A few behavioral optometrists have spoken up or published books on these topics, but they are a tiny minority, e.g. https://vision-therapy-pa.com https://vision-therapy-pa.com

xenadu02 9y ago
I can't find the link but I seem to remember a study found that exposure to sunlight (at least the level found on an overcast day) was required for ~4 hours per day to prevent myopia. This link had been suspected previously but they found a mechanism of action. The eyeball itself would release regulatory chemicals at night after the daytime exposure that inhibited growth of the eyeball. Since myopia is most often caused by the eye being slightly too large this seems like a plausible explanation. It certainly makes more sense than the previous theory about spending too much time indoors - that somehow you would spend too much time focusing closely since distances indoors are limited.
- oolongtea 9y ago
  The article you're referring to might be this one: http://bjo.bmj.com/content/early/2017/06/12/bjophthalmol-2017-310292 http://bjo.bmj.com/content/early/2017/06/12/bjophthalmol-201... (Alas, it's not Open Access) I also remember reading an earlier news article in Nature on this exact topic: https://www.nature.com/news/the-myopia-boom-1.17120 https://www.nature.com/news/the-myopia-boom-1.17120
- sowbug 9y ago
  That's fascinating. I didn't see this exact point in the Nature article linked below, but is it as simple as your body needing bigger eyes to see in the dark?

TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago

> I could be incredibly naive ... The country wouldn't have economic competition from big pharma Yep. The USA has to be the most egregious example of this, other countries aren't immune.

pfranz 9y ago
That's clearly not the case in all parts of the world. China and India often ignore patents and trade secrets to produce generic drugs for domestic use. I often hear about how useful donating used prescription glasses are to people in need in other countries like Africa and China. I imagine this would be a similar program that would be aimed at prevention. I would think any influence of big pharma would affect prescription glasses distribution programs in the same way.