During the said study, researchers checked nearsightedness records and birth order of around 89,000 individuals aged between 40 and 69 years.
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First-born children are up to 20% more likely to develop short-sightedness than later-born children, a large study suggests.
Nearsightedness also known as myopia is increasing in the younger generation, researchers said.
India and China are very concerned already over Myopia, which is the scientific term for nearsightedness.
Though undiagnosed nearsightedness can cause problems in school, once it’s corrected it usually isn’t a health issue, unless a person is severely myopic. The researchers combined demographic data with behavioral information.
In other words, firstborns may come under parental pressure to succeed educationally, which may have them spending more time peering at books and computer screens.
These results could help explain why those whom are from cultures that are more studious might be more prone to being nearsighted, borne from recent studies that have found a substantial increase in myopia cases in countries across Asia. It is only natural for a parent to try and provide his child with the best education possible, but sometimes all of those aspects, which seem necessary in a child’s education can do a lot more damage than we think.
Again, there is no empirical evidence that directly links firstborns to myopia, but we can’t deny the fact that the incidence of such an affliction increases given both the genetic background and the parent’s approach to his education.
The lead author of the study is Jeremy Guggenheim, a professor of optometry and vision sciences at Cardiff University’s Eye Clinic, his findings show that firstborns were 10% more likely to develop nearsightedness and 20% more likely to show signs of severe nearsightedness.
The team of researchers at first did not consider birth order and developing Myopia had anything to do with educational investment; initially they thought the case was because firstborns are lighter at birth, but further research into this did prove fruitful and they realized the connection between firstborns and educational investment.
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Guggenheim is now looking into why outdoor play may reduce the risk of nearsightedness, and just how it’s affected by heredity. So, the education of children with later birth order gets less intense. He added that scientists are always suspicious of seemingly random links such as this one, but when you keep seeing it, then something must cause it.
