A new study of Australian kids says nearly in one year, one in 16 preschoolers have visual problem. Majority of these children had problem in one eye and the common causes of it are farsightedness, amblyopia or lazy eye and astigmatism.

The authors write in the journal Ophthalmology that the findings highlight about the importance of diagnosing and treating vision problem in kids. This is because to keep their eyes in good shape for starting schooling. From the University of Southern California Dr. Rohit Varma said if the kids have significant vision problem in future it may get worse.

He also said at the young age it is easy to fix vision problem with the help of eye glasses and if it is not corrected early it may not be able to correct later on. The researchers from the University of Sydney led the study; they examined nearly 1000 kids aging from two and half years to six ears. And among them 6-7 percent of these kids had visual problem in one eye and about 3 percent had problem in two eyes.

The most common eye problem caused in half of the kids is astigmatism causing blurred vision. The second most common problem is far sightedness and lazy eye causing trouble in making out details. Both boys and girls are likely to have this vision problem. While kids born with low birthweight are at higher risk of getting vision problem in comparison to those born with normal weight.

In this study the rate of vision problem seen is similar to those shown in studies of young kids in the U.S. according to Varma, who led one of those U.S. studies such results shows that kids having vision problem should get eye glasses quickly as it is necessary for long run. This is because the problem if not treated properly at early age can get worse in the future.

Kids suffers this problem due to many reason and among them some can be prevented while others not.  Dr. Michael Repka, from Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins said “I think that some of it is certainly hereditary or genetic”.