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Myopia may be genetic in nature
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
Scientists say they are one step closer to solving the problem of the most common eye disease in the world - myopia or nearsightedness. An international team of geneticists analyzed the genes of more than 13,000 twins as part of a single project and concluded that the roots of myopia may be genetic.
David Mackay, professor of ophthalmology at the Lions Gate Research Institute, says the project aimed to identify specific genes that, when abnormal, lead to myopia. The geneticists analysed DNA pairs and looked for so-called genetic markers of the disease.
"We had to analyse around 600,000 markers to find out which ones were most likely to be associated with myopia. In collaboration with a group of doctors in London, we were able to identify one gene that was very likely to be associated with myopia in old age," says Professor Mackay.
He also noted that myopia affects about 3 million Australians, about the same number of Britons, and in some Asian countries myopia is a disease with epidemic proportions. Here, almost 98% of the population over 45 cannot do without glasses.
"This problem is especially acute in Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and with the development of industry and cities, in China. Now in these areas the level of education of the population has increased significantly, but the other side of this coin is that the level of myopia has increased," says Mackay.
According to scientists' forecasts, in the next half century, myopia, despite the development of medical technologies, will not decrease, but only increase. In addition, doctors assume that age-related myopia, congenital myopia and myopia acquired as a result of a disease, such as diabetes, are essentially different diseases, although they manifest themselves in the same form, and accordingly, they should be treated differently.
"There are factors that lead to myopia for objective reasons, such as prolonged work at a computer, but there are groups of people who are susceptible to myopia at the genetic level. It is for this category that we plan to create drugs," says Mackay.
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