Reappraisal of the historical myopia epidemic in native Arctic communities
Abstract Purpose This study was developed to explain the extraordinary rise in myopia prevalence beginning after 1950 in Indigenous Arctic communities considering recent findings about the risk factors for school myopia development. Myopia prevalence changed drastically from a historical low of less...
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crwiley:10.1111/opo.12879 2023-12-03T10:17:10+01:00 Reappraisal of the historical myopia epidemic in native Arctic communities Rozema, Jos J Boulet, Charles Cohen, Yuval Stell, William K Iribarren, Luciano van Rens, Ger H M B Iribarren, Rafael 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/opo.12879 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/opo.12879 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/opo.12879 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics volume 41, issue 6, page 1332-1345 ISSN 0275-5408 1475-1313 Sensory Systems Optometry Ophthalmology journal-article 2021 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/opo.12879 2023-11-09T14:15:45Z Abstract Purpose This study was developed to explain the extraordinary rise in myopia prevalence beginning after 1950 in Indigenous Arctic communities considering recent findings about the risk factors for school myopia development. Myopia prevalence changed drastically from a historical low of less than 3% to more than 50% in new generations of young adults following the Second World War. At that time, this increase was attributed to concurrent alterations in the environment and way of life which occurred in an aggressive programme of de‐culturalization and re‐acculturation through residential school programmes that introduced mental, emotional and physical stressors. However, the predominant idea that myopia was genetic in nature won the discussion of the day, and research in the area of environmental changes was dismissed. There may have also been an association between myopia progression and the introduction of extreme mental, emotional and physical stressors at the time. Recent findings Since 1978, animal models of myopia have demonstrated that myopiagenesis has a strong environmental component. Furthermore, multiple studies in human populations have shown since 2005 how myopia could be produced by a combination of limited exposure to the outdoors and heavy emphasis on academic subjects associated with intense reading habits. This new knowledge was applied in the present study to unravel the causes of the historical myopia epidemics in Inuit communities. Summary After reviewing the available published data on myopia prevalence in circumpolar Inuit populations in the 20th century, the most likely causes for the Inuit myopia epidemic were the combination of increased near work (from almost none to daily reading) and the move from a mostly outdoor to a much more indoor way of life, exacerbated by fewer hours of sunshine during waking hours, the lower illuminance in the Arctic and the extreme psychophysical stress due to the conditions in the Residential Schools. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic inuit Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) Arctic Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics 41 6 1332 1345 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
topic |
Sensory Systems Optometry Ophthalmology |
spellingShingle |
Sensory Systems Optometry Ophthalmology Rozema, Jos J Boulet, Charles Cohen, Yuval Stell, William K Iribarren, Luciano van Rens, Ger H M B Iribarren, Rafael Reappraisal of the historical myopia epidemic in native Arctic communities |
topic_facet |
Sensory Systems Optometry Ophthalmology |
description |
Abstract Purpose This study was developed to explain the extraordinary rise in myopia prevalence beginning after 1950 in Indigenous Arctic communities considering recent findings about the risk factors for school myopia development. Myopia prevalence changed drastically from a historical low of less than 3% to more than 50% in new generations of young adults following the Second World War. At that time, this increase was attributed to concurrent alterations in the environment and way of life which occurred in an aggressive programme of de‐culturalization and re‐acculturation through residential school programmes that introduced mental, emotional and physical stressors. However, the predominant idea that myopia was genetic in nature won the discussion of the day, and research in the area of environmental changes was dismissed. There may have also been an association between myopia progression and the introduction of extreme mental, emotional and physical stressors at the time. Recent findings Since 1978, animal models of myopia have demonstrated that myopiagenesis has a strong environmental component. Furthermore, multiple studies in human populations have shown since 2005 how myopia could be produced by a combination of limited exposure to the outdoors and heavy emphasis on academic subjects associated with intense reading habits. This new knowledge was applied in the present study to unravel the causes of the historical myopia epidemics in Inuit communities. Summary After reviewing the available published data on myopia prevalence in circumpolar Inuit populations in the 20th century, the most likely causes for the Inuit myopia epidemic were the combination of increased near work (from almost none to daily reading) and the move from a mostly outdoor to a much more indoor way of life, exacerbated by fewer hours of sunshine during waking hours, the lower illuminance in the Arctic and the extreme psychophysical stress due to the conditions in the Residential Schools. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rozema, Jos J Boulet, Charles Cohen, Yuval Stell, William K Iribarren, Luciano van Rens, Ger H M B Iribarren, Rafael |
author_facet |
Rozema, Jos J Boulet, Charles Cohen, Yuval Stell, William K Iribarren, Luciano van Rens, Ger H M B Iribarren, Rafael |
author_sort |
Rozema, Jos J |
title |
Reappraisal of the historical myopia epidemic in native Arctic communities |
title_short |
Reappraisal of the historical myopia epidemic in native Arctic communities |
title_full |
Reappraisal of the historical myopia epidemic in native Arctic communities |
title_fullStr |
Reappraisal of the historical myopia epidemic in native Arctic communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reappraisal of the historical myopia epidemic in native Arctic communities |
title_sort |
reappraisal of the historical myopia epidemic in native arctic communities |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/opo.12879 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/opo.12879 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/opo.12879 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic inuit |
genre_facet |
Arctic inuit |
op_source |
Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics volume 41, issue 6, page 1332-1345 ISSN 0275-5408 1475-1313 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/opo.12879 |
container_title |
Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics |
container_volume |
41 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1332 |
op_container_end_page |
1345 |
_version_ |
1784264129309048832 |