I've noticed that a very large proportion of Chinese girls are short-sighted, when compared with other ethnic groups.
Is this coincidence, or genetical?
Is this coincidence, or genetical?
Observation about Chinese girls
- Thread starter mountainhare
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Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
Do you mean "nearsighted," or do you mean that they don't plan for the future? 
samcdkey:
I'm not sure if this is genetical or anecdotal, which is why I'm asking.
Anecdotal. I'm at a university which has a very large number of Chinese girls, and a very large proportion of them wear spectacles.
I'm not sure if this is genetical or anecdotal, which is why I'm asking.
"We don't really know why these differences exist," said Karla Zadnik, the lead author of the multi-center study and an associate professor of optometry at Ohio State University. "It's probably like most of our modern conditions and diseases a mix a nature and nurture and factors that interact together.
In this study, 18.5 percent of the Asian children were nearsighted thats more than four times the number of nearsighted white children; three times the number of farsighted African American children; and one-and-a-half times the number of nearsighted Hispanic children.
"But uncorrected vision problems are a major public health problem, and a large number of children are visually handicapped in their everyday classroom, recreational and other activities."
Nearly one out of five Asian-American children in the study was nearsighted, and one out of five white children was farsighted. More than a third of the Hispanic children had astigmatism.
The results appear in the current issue of the Archives of Opthalmology.
The researchers evaluated the vision of 2,523 children from four ethnic groups: 534 were African American; 491 were Asian; 463 were Hispanic; and 1,035 were white. These findings were part of the Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Ethnicity in Refractive Error (CLEERE) Study, an eight-year study that looks at the prevalence of vision problems -- myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism -- across ethnic groups. The CLEERE study is in its fifth year.
Parents filled out questionnaires covering their childrens medical history and also indicated their childs ethnicity. The children were in grades one through eight at the time of the study and lived in communities in Alabama, California and Texas. Each child was evaluated in his or her respective school.
In this study, 18.5 percent of the Asian children were nearsighted -- thats more than four times the number of nearsighted white children (4.4 percent); three times the number of farsighted African American children (6.6 percent); and one-and-a-half times the number of nearsighted Hispanic children (13.2 percent.)
On the flip side, nearly one in five white children (19.3 percent) were farsighted -- three times the number of both farsighted Asian children (6.3 percent) and farsighted African-American children (6.4 percent), and one-and-a-half times the number of farsighted Hispanic children (12.7 percent).
Astigmatism ran fairly high in each group, with Hispanic children having the highest prevalence (37 percent), followed by Asian children (34 percent), white children (26 percent) and, finally, African-American children (20 percent.)
The researchers are also studying the rate at which childrens eyes change during their elementary and middle school years.
"About 2 percent of children are nearsighted when they enter school," Zadnik said. "Children tend to develop myopia between 8 and 12 years old. In fact, most first graders are slightly farsighted when they begin school.
"As the body grows, that farsightedness tends to decrease," she continued. "But for reasons that are still unclear, a childs eyes sometimes keep growing until he or she reaches her teen years. Its this growth that, in some cases, contributes to nearsightedness."
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/cleere.htm
In this study, 18.5 percent of the Asian children were nearsighted thats more than four times the number of nearsighted white children; three times the number of farsighted African American children; and one-and-a-half times the number of nearsighted Hispanic children.
"But uncorrected vision problems are a major public health problem, and a large number of children are visually handicapped in their everyday classroom, recreational and other activities."
Nearly one out of five Asian-American children in the study was nearsighted, and one out of five white children was farsighted. More than a third of the Hispanic children had astigmatism.
The results appear in the current issue of the Archives of Opthalmology.
The researchers evaluated the vision of 2,523 children from four ethnic groups: 534 were African American; 491 were Asian; 463 were Hispanic; and 1,035 were white. These findings were part of the Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Ethnicity in Refractive Error (CLEERE) Study, an eight-year study that looks at the prevalence of vision problems -- myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism -- across ethnic groups. The CLEERE study is in its fifth year.
Parents filled out questionnaires covering their childrens medical history and also indicated their childs ethnicity. The children were in grades one through eight at the time of the study and lived in communities in Alabama, California and Texas. Each child was evaluated in his or her respective school.
In this study, 18.5 percent of the Asian children were nearsighted -- thats more than four times the number of nearsighted white children (4.4 percent); three times the number of farsighted African American children (6.6 percent); and one-and-a-half times the number of nearsighted Hispanic children (13.2 percent.)
On the flip side, nearly one in five white children (19.3 percent) were farsighted -- three times the number of both farsighted Asian children (6.3 percent) and farsighted African-American children (6.4 percent), and one-and-a-half times the number of farsighted Hispanic children (12.7 percent).
Astigmatism ran fairly high in each group, with Hispanic children having the highest prevalence (37 percent), followed by Asian children (34 percent), white children (26 percent) and, finally, African-American children (20 percent.)
The researchers are also studying the rate at which childrens eyes change during their elementary and middle school years.
"About 2 percent of children are nearsighted when they enter school," Zadnik said. "Children tend to develop myopia between 8 and 12 years old. In fact, most first graders are slightly farsighted when they begin school.
"As the body grows, that farsightedness tends to decrease," she continued. "But for reasons that are still unclear, a childs eyes sometimes keep growing until he or she reaches her teen years. Its this growth that, in some cases, contributes to nearsightedness."
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/cleere.htm
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While I lived in China, it was quite obvious that a lot more Chinese wear glasses than Americans or Europeans, and not just girls. I thought there were more Chinese males than females that wore glasses. I always thought that this was due to the intense pressure they were under - mostly from their parents - to study for school, take cram school classes in the evening, then spend the rest of the night studying for their classes the next day.
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
When were you there? I'm sure the majority of Americans of either sex, especially under fifty, prefer contact lenses. In China, I don't think they were available and affordable until recently.valich said:
How many Americans of your age do you see wearing glasses anymore? You can be sure that the rest of them do not all have 20/20 uncorrected vision.
Yes, That's an excellent point. I was in Mainland China two years ago and Taiwan almost ten years ago now. Ironically, even though the income is higher in Taiwan, my memory of more students wearing classes is of Taiwan students: not Mainland China. Also, girls will tend to want contact lenses more so then guys because they'd be more concerned about their beauty. I don't know? Chinese girls are very beautiful with or without glasses. I think wearing glasses often makes one look more intelligent, don't you?Fraggle Rocker said:
redarmy11:
The height. That's why most black people are faster and can jump higher than most other groups, longer legs. Also, more black people play basketball when they are young. There are exceptions though, my friend Bill Guun can play basketball better than almost every black person who I know.
Better questions would be:
Why are Germans so damn built? Why are Mongolians so much more yellow than Japanese? Why are British so damn white? Why do the French Olympic Gymnastic team have such big eyes? Why do Chinese girls, and most Asians other than Koreans, look so good?
The height. That's why most black people are faster and can jump higher than most other groups, longer legs. Also, more black people play basketball when they are young. There are exceptions though, my friend Bill Guun can play basketball better than almost every black person who I know.
Better questions would be:
Why are Germans so damn built? Why are Mongolians so much more yellow than Japanese? Why are British so damn white? Why do the French Olympic Gymnastic team have such big eyes? Why do Chinese girls, and most Asians other than Koreans, look so good?
It's not quite that simple.Oniw17 said:
World High Jump Records:
Mark (Metres) ..... Holder ............................................. Ethnicity
2.45 .................... Javier Sotomayor (Current) .............. Black
2.42 .................... Patrik Sjoberg (1987) ...................... White
2.41 .................... Igor Paklin (Sep. 1985) .................... White
2.40 .................... Rudolf Povarnitsyn (Aug. 1985) ........ White
Clearly there's more to it than jumping ability. Want to try again?
mountainhare said:
A theory?:
China is densly populated crowded area where I imagine (never been) there is little to see in the distance as the distance is obscured. Thus long range vision may not get the chance to develop sufficiently, hence most likely to be short sighted.
This (as I read many yrs ago..so may not be correct..I'll hunt for source) was the case for tribal peoples living in midst of forrests, when faced with an expanse of land they could not see in the disatnce as living amongst trees their vision had not had the chance to develop.
EDIT:
here we are
http://www.china.org.cn/english/Life/160025.htm
"40% Chinese Adolescents Short Sighted
A research showed that Chinese adolescents affected by myopia disease, or short-sightedness, tend to be younger and younger, China News Service reported yesterday.
China now has 5 million blinded people and 6 million people with low vision. The number of children who have slanting eyes or poor vision reaches 10 million. About 40 percent of adolescents in China are short-sighted. In college, such ratio is as high as 70 percent.
There is a remarkable increase for the number of short-sighted children aged 7-9. Many children become short-sighted at their school age or even earlier. In China, about 70 percent of adolescents become short-sighted during puberty, the second most in world.
Experts said that there are many factors that contribute to short-sightednesss among adolescents at an earlier age. Besides heredity factors, the disease is mostly linked with children's too much involvement in various pre-school classes, playing computer games, watching televisions and films. A higher living standard and adolescents' physical development at an earlier age also contribute to the disease.
(China News Service March 3, 2006)"
Long distance not getting chance to develop...not exactly what I said but same cause
Oh, I don't find that theory very viable. It is true that the majority of "young" Chinese do keep to themselves rather than looking around everywhere like Westerners do, but how can that be such a quick evolutionary change. China is really opening up now. Not just to foreignors, but to a large proportion of Chinese who now travel to the scenic attractions in China: Huang Shan, West Lake, Beijing Forbidden City, Ba De Ling Great Wall, cruises down the Yangtze River, Chang De, Nepal, Tibet. These are now all tourists destinations for Chinese and they go there and marvel at the surrounding beauty in the distance.