Many problems with eyesight can be traced to genetic conditions, South Korean researchers said in a new study on Tuesday.

Professor Chung Eui-sang and his colleagues from Samsung Medical Center conducted the study on 240 identical twins and 45 fraternal twins and 469 pairs of siblings who had visited the hospital from 2007 to 2011.

They found that identical twins who share many of their genes showed a high level of consistency in their eyesight. When one monozygotic twin is nearsighted, the other twin was 83 percent more likely to be nearsighted. The percentage of other groups was relatively low.

The finding illustrated the point that one’s eyesight is largely determined by genes and the efficacy of individual efforts to prevent eye diseases could be limited.

From news report
(knews@heraldcorp.com)