A new QUT optometry study that aims to explore how lifestyle and environmental factors affect children's eyesight and the development of myopia will get underway in Brisbane this month.
The project has been funded through a USD$250,000 Meta Myopia Award from the American Academy of Optometry Foundation to QUT optometry researcher Dr Rohan Hughes.
The research team will follow more than 100 children aged six to 12 for one year, tracking their eye growth and vision changes, along with behaviours including screen time and reading, outdoor play, diet and sleep.
They plan to recruit participants with the help of local schools and optometrists.
The project will use sensor equipment and questionnaires to follow the children's activities, and regular eye scans to measure eye growth.
The QUT Centre for Vision and Eye Research and School of Clinical Sciences research team includes Dr Hughes, Dr Emily Pieterse, Professor Steve Vincent and Professor Scott Read.
Dr Hughes said the project would focus on 'pre-myopic' children who were identified as particularly at risk of developing myopia, due to their current eyesight, age and/or hereditary risk factors.
He said rates of myopia had increased steadily around the world over the last 20 years.
"Myopia – or short-sightedness – is an eye condition that requires glasses or contact lenses to provide clear far distance vision and typically develops and progresses during childhood due to the eye growing rapidly longer," he said.
"In addition to causing vision problems, this longer eye shape means people with myopia will also have an increased risk of eye diseases during their life that can cause vision loss, like retinal detachment, macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataracts.
"It's estimated that approximately half the world's population will have myopia by 2050. So, globally, it's becoming a major public health challenge.
"That's why it's really important for us to better understand the reasons why children develop myopia and use that knowledge to help improve preventative measures and education."
Dr Hughes said researchers already thought modern lifestyle factors were big contributors to the development of myopia.
"The cause of myopia is thought to be multifactorial – we think it involves a complex interaction between genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors," he said.
"But these characteristics are not fully understood.
"Many children and adults spend less time outdoors than people used to, and more time indoors doing close-up work like reading and screen time.
"Often this near-distance work is done for long periods and in poor conditions. Kids often hold materials really close to their eyes, they do work in poor lighting, and they don't take enough breaks to rest their eyes.
"This study will comprehensively quantify many ocular, environmental, and lifestyle characteristics that have been shown to be associated with myopia development, and explore their association with eye growth and refractive error change in children with pre-myopia.
"We hope this project will provide insights that can contribute to strategies to delay or prevent myopia development in children."
Dr Hughes said around 20 per cent of children in Australia were already near-sighted by the age of 12.
But, as bad as that statistic is, it's better than how many kids in Asia are faring.
"In some east Asian countries like Singapore, China and Hong Kong, myopia prevalence in 12-year-olds is around 50 to 60 per cent," Dr Hughes said.
"We think Australian children are developing myopia more slowly than East Asian children because Australian kids still spend more time outdoors, we have less urbanisation, and we have less demanding educational culture and systems."
Dr Hughes said he was immensely grateful to the American Academy of Optometry Foundation and Meta's Reality Labs Research group for their support of the research project, which is titled Characteristics associated with eye growth in pre-myopic children and will run from June 2025 to June 2027.
The research will be conducted through the Contact Lens and Visual Optics Laboratory (CLVOL) within the QUT Centre for Vision and Eye Research, with recruitment planned to commence later in 2025.
The CLVOL is a globally recognised research group with an exceptional track record of research into environmental risk factors associated with myopia development and progression.
QUT Centre for Vision and Eye Research eye health tips for children
- Have an eye test before starting Prep (or earlier if there are any eyesight concerns – optometrists will see kids any age)
- Get an eye test at least every two years (this is particularly important for kids who have parents with myopia or other eye problems)
- Aim to spend two or more hours per day outside (14 hours per week). Stay sun-safe while outdoors (sunglasses, hat, sunscreen etc)
- Try to hold books, video games and screens at least 30cm or more away from eyes
- Try to avoid sustained near-work activities like reading, homework and looking at screens for longer than 30 minutes without taking a break.
