First Born Children Are '20 Percent More Likely' To Be Nearsighted

Now the first-borns have not always had things worked out their way, and they are also more likely to be nearsighted due to parental pressure to excel in school, explains new research from UK, according to the Daily Mail.

It is the tendency of parents to be stricter with the first born in the early parts of their lives, while they loosen the hold on the younger children.

"Greater educational exposure in earlier-born children may expose them to a more myopiagenic environment, for example, more time doing near work and less time spent outdoors," said Jeremy Guggenheim, the main scientist. "Reduced parental investment in children's education for offspring of later birth order contributed to the observed birth order vs myopia association."

Scientists at Cardiff University examined 80,000 people in the range of 40 to 69 years. They discovered that the first-borns were always 10 percent nearer to being nearsighted and 20 percent more likely to be shortsighted, according to the Telegraph.

Alternative factors such as "educational exposure" and a history of "eye disorders," were not taken into account though.

Recently, twice the number of children with short-shortsightedness have been found as compared to the '60s. The figures for the short-sighted children have thus shot up to 23 percent in recent years, according to HNGN.

The article on the study was published in JAMA Opthalmology.