Myopia report calls for disease classification, new federal policies

One in every two people globally could be nearsighted by mid-century, a new report finds as investigators call for federal policy changes that hedge against myopia development and progression. 

Released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) in September, the report, titled “Myopia: Causes, Prevention and Treatment of an Increasingly Common Disease,” encourages the federal classification of myopia as a disease and posits that 1-2 hours of outdoor time daily is recommended for children to reduce myopia development risk. Sponsored by the AOA and industry partners, the NASEM consensus study comes as optometry’s advocates advance a pediatric eye health and vision care initiative that promotes greater awareness and federal resources for policies that support children’s vision in the United States. 

"AOA member doctors of optometry are empowered by this NASEM report, which solidly affirms the reality of this myopia epidemic and the need for increased awareness,” says AOA President-Elect Jacquie M. Bowen, O.D. “As lawmakers and policy writers come to understand the urgency defined in this report, we look forward to significant improvements in access to comprehensive eye exams and treatment for children at risk.” 

The NASEM report outlines a policy research agenda to address gaps in understanding myopia’s increasing incidence. Therefore, the report calls on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to classify myopia as a disease—thus requiring a medical diagnosis—and allowing federal and state agencies, as well as other stakeholders, to allocate concerted resources behind myopia allaying strategies. 

The NASEM report also recommends 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 outdoor time.
  

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other funding agencies solicit and fund research investigating myopia development, as well as myopia treatments.
  

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with state departments of education, take measures to ensure children receive a vision screening before first grade and comprehensive eye exam when needed. 
  

• A national data surveillance system is established to collect data on vision screening, referrals to eye care providers, demographics and outcomes of referrals. 

“Myopia is a disease with increasing worldwide prevalence and severity,” notes K. Davina Frick, health economist and professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business school, and co-chair of the committee that wrote the report, in a news release. “Recognition of the impact of its downstream complications on people’s lives beyond nearsightedness needs to be taken seriously.” 

The study was sponsored by the AOA and Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety, alongside Johnson & Johnson Vision, and others in the eye care industry. 

AOA’s commitment to improving children’s eye health and vision care 

In 2023, the AOA launched a National Pediatric Eye Health and Vision Mobilization, a multi-year initiative to address children’s access to comprehensive and pediatric eye health and vision care services. Launched at Optometry’s Meeting® that year, the initiative would close the gap in care created by access disparities and hastened by the consequences of accelerated screentime usage during the pandemic.  

⏩ 4 steps you can take to be part of AOA’s national pediatric mobilization 

And before that, the AOA hosted an educational series in the AOA EyeLearn Professional Development Hub and at Optometry’s Meeting concerning myopia management, coming on the heels of an Emergency Children’s Vision Summit in 2021 that identified the need for strategies to address children’s eye care post-pandemic. 

Currently, the AOA supports new federal legislation, called the Early Detection of Vision Impairments in Children Act, introduced in May 2024 to establish grants for states to implement strategies for early detection of vision concerns. But the AOA’s commitment to children’s vision—and specifically myopia care—has gone one step further.  

In a groundbreaking partnership, the AOA and CooperVision launched The Myopia Collective this past April to connect like-minded doctors of optometry to resources, education and information in the fight against myopia.  

⏩ Become a member of The Myopia Collective 

Those optometric and industry leaders who went one step further, enlisting as Change Agents for The Myopia Collective, recently convened in a workshop setting to discuss myopia control and advocacy for long-term policy changes. Their goal: to trigger a paradigm shift in pediatric eye care that refuses to stop at just vision correction but actually treats myopia from getting worse so quickly.  

“Having recently launched The Myopia Collective in partnership with CooperVision, the timing of this NASEM report is ideal,” says Dr. Bowen, who served as a facilitator during The Myopia Change Workshop in Chicago, Sept. 6-8. “The need to address myopia is expanding rapidly and it’s so important that doctors of optometry are armed and ready to engage. The Myopia Collective has a significant role to play in our ability to treat our young patients.” 

Access the NASEM report in full here.