All five of the "traditional" senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch—are critical to a child's development and to functioning, as a child and an adult. Globally, in both 1990 and 2010, using the current WHO definition, approximately 32 million persons worldwide were blind.1 Although adults over the age of fifty years represented nearly two-thirds of those with visual impairment,2 an estimated 1.4 million children globally were blind.Of course, any decrease in visual acuity can impact development and functioning. The global burden of visual difficulties is not evenly distributed; there is overwhelming evidence that rates are inversely related to national socioeconomic status.3'4 Within the United States, there is also evidence of higher rates of visual impairment among groups with fewer resources. Therefore, both within the United States and across the globe, pediatricians must be aware of conditions and circumstances that can threaten vision, available preventive measures, and new therapies for treatment.As the authors describe in this outstanding volume dedicated to vision in children, great strides have been made in recent years in preventing and identifying any loss of visual acuity, and, when identified, correcting it. The articles are written for the practicing pediatrician and thus describe conditions that you may detect in your practice and/or about which parents and patients may be knowledgeable and have questions.
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