Young Hispanic children may be more likely to have astigmatism than their African-American peers

Astigmatism refers to a distortion in the curvature of the cornea that can blur near and distance vision. Fairly little has been known about how widespread the problem is among preschool children, and how their susceptibility may vary by ethnicity. Researchers found that among 3,000 Hispanic children between the ages of 6 months and 6 years, 17% had at least mild astigmatism and 3% had a significant degree of astigmatism that would generally require corrective lenses. Those figures compared with rates of 13% and 1%, respectively, among 3,000 African-American children in the same age group. It is unknown why the ethnic difference exists but, it's likely that genetic influences are involved. Astigmatism is also very common among Native Americans and many Hispanics have significant Native American ancestry in their backgrounds.