Bright children have worse eyes

Intelligent children are twice as likely to be shortsighted as their less bright peers, a study shows.

Intelligent children are twice as likely to be shortsighted as their less bright peers, a study shows.

Researchers found direct links between children's IQ and myopia. Other studies concluded the condition was linked to the amount of time a child spent reading. But until now it has not been known if it was because short-sighted children read a lot or if reading caused the myopia.

But Dr Seang-Mie Saw, of the National University of Singapore, found a link between intelligence and myopia, regardless of the amount of time reading. "The higher the IQ level among schoolchildren, the more likely they are to be myopic," Dr Saw told the 10th International Myopia Conference in Cambridge.

The study examined the eyesight and intelligence levels of 1,204 children aged between 10 and 12. It found that children with IQ levels in the highest 25 per cent were twice as likely to be myopic as children in the bottom quarter.