First-born in family more likely to be nearsighted

I'm the oldest, and am myopic. My parents wanted all of us to succeed in school and go to college, but I was the only one interested.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/tjnj-fif100615.php

Public Release: 8-Oct-2015
First-born in family more likely to be nearsighted; priority of education may be factor
The JAMA Network Journals

First-born individuals in a sample of adults in the United Kingdom were more likely to be nearsighted than later-born individuals in a family, and the association was larger before adjusting for educational exposure, suggesting that reduced parental investment in the education of children with later birth orders may be partly responsible, according to a study published online by JAMA Ophthalmology.

Myopia (nearsightedness) is increasing in prevalence in younger generations in many parts of the world and is an important public health issue. Major known risk factors for myopia are genetic background, time spent outdoors, and time spent doing "near" work (including educational activities). A prior analysis suggested myopia was more common in first-born children in a family compared with later-born children. One potential cause of the association between birth order and myopia is parental investment in education; on average, parents have been reported to direct more of their available resources to earlier-born children, resulting in better educational attainment in earlier-born than later-born individuals. Thus, parents may expose their earlier-born children to a more myopia-predisposing environment, according to background information in the article.

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