Nearsightedness and glaucoma are interconnected, with those who are nearsighted nearly twice as likely to also develop glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness, a study says.
More than two million people over 40 in the United States alone have been diagnosed with the eye disease, which is becoming increasingly expensive to treat.
The findings suggest to some experts that nearsighted people -- a third of all U.S. residents -- may want to undergo regular eye screening.
Barbara Klein is from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked on one of the studies included in the review.
"A conclusion might be that persons with high myopia should have regular ophthalmic examinations," Klein said.
Glaucoma is a group of eye conditions that damage the optic nerve, causing gradual loss of vision.
There are several treatments available, including drugs and surgery, but none of them can restore sight once it has been lost.
For the latest study, Nomdo Jansonius at the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands and colleagues combined data from 11 previous studies.
The studies included tens of thousands of people, tracking who was nearsighted and had glaucoma.
Overall, nearsighted people were about 90 percent more likely to also develop open-angle glaucoma.
