This new report on an element of the Baltimore Pediatric Eye Disease Study (BPEDS) provides the first population-based data on refractive error and the need for vision correction in American preschool-aged children. Researchers tested 2,546 African-American and non-Hispanic white children for nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. BPEDS was conducted between 2003 and 2007 in the urban area in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Like school-aged children, very young children who have undetected, uncorrected refractive errors are at risk for a number of visual disorders including amblyopia, in which vision in one eye is weaker than the other, and strabismus, in which one eye does not align properly. If children with a high degree of farsightedness do not receive vision correction, strabismus can result…