In November 2019 researchers from Taiwan published the results of their study to assess the effect of long-term exposure to air pollution on the risk of myopia (near/short sightedness) in children. Information was collected via the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database and the Taiwan Air Quality-Monitoring Database. Results showed that a total of 15,822 children (16.3%) had been diagnosed with myopia and that the incidence rate increased in line with exposure to increasing concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides, which increased from 15.8 to 24.5 and from 13.7 to 34.4, per 1000 person-years, respectively.
Wei C-C et al. PM2.5 and NOx Exposure Promote Myopia: Clinical Evidence and Experimental Proof. Environ Pollut 2019 Nov;254(Pt B):113031.