September 17, 2024
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WASHINGTON D.C. — The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) has published a new report that calls for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to classify myopia as an official disease that requires a medical diagnosis. This reclassification would enable efforts not only to treat blurred vision but also to ensure that stakeholders such as federal and state agencies, professional associations, patients, and caregivers are investing in prevention and management of myopia.
The report also recommends that the federal government should pursue policies that would encourage more outdoor time for young people. The organization says that children need between one to two hours outdoors each day, as studies show that being outdoors stimulates the eye with light that is brighter and more varied and requires different eye movements and focus compared to when indoors.
“Myopia is a disease with increasing worldwide prevalence and severity,” said K. Davina Frick, a health economist and professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, and co-chair of the committee that wrote the report. “Recognition of the impact of its downstream complications on people’s lives beyond nearsightedness needs to be taken seriously.”
Also in the report, experts are recommending that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) produce evidence-based guidelines, supported by federal and state departments of education and health care providers, promoting more time outdoors (at least one hour per day) for children. Further, the National Institutes of Health and other funding agencies should solicit and fund research to investigate the genetic and environmental mechanisms in the development of myopia, and funding agencies should support innovative, multidisciplinary research to identify mechanisms and novel treatments for myopia.
Further, the authors believe that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with state departments of education, should take measures to ensure that children receive a vision screening before first grade and a comprehensive eye exam when needed. Moreover, an integrated, national data surveillance system is needed for collecting data on vision screening, referrals to eye care providers, demographics (age, race, sex, geographic location), and outcomes of referrals. This data system would enhance care integration and enable monitoring to ensure that follow-up care is received, especially in high-risk populations.
It’s also recommended that the CDC and state health departments collect consistent, harmonized data on the prevalence of myopia in the United States, prioritizing longitudinal surveillance on refractive error prevalence in children using standardized procedures. CDC should also coordinate with the World Health Organization to create consistent definitions and monitoring methods that would benefit the global community.
“Collaborative efforts involving health care providers, policymakers, researchers, and funding agencies are essential to tackle this disease effectively,” said Terri L. Young, Peter A. Duehr Professor and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and co-chair of the committee.
The study — undertaken by the Committee on Focus on Myopia: Pathogenesis and Rising Incidence — was sponsored by the American Academy of Optometry; American Optometric Association; Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety; Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley; Johnson & Johnson Vision; National Eye Institute; Reality Labs; Research to Prevent Blindness; and the Warby Parker Impact Foundation.
