Title | Impact of simulated hyperopia on academic-related performance in children. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2015 |
Authors | Narayanasamy, S, Vincent, SJ, Sampson, GP, Wood, JM |
Journal | Optom Vis Sci |
Volume | 92 |
Issue | 2 |
Pagination | 227-36 |
Date Published | 2015 Feb |
ISSN | 1538-9235 |
Keywords | Child, Eye Movements, Female, Humans, Hyperopia, Intelligence Tests, Male, Ocular Motility Disorders, Perceptual Disorders, Psychomotor Performance, Reading, Vision Tests, Vision, Binocular |
Abstract | PURPOSE: To investigate the impact of simulated hyperopia and sustained near work on children's ability to perform a range of academic-related tasks. METHODS: Fifteen visually normal children (mean [±SD] age, 10.9 [±0.8] years; 10 male and 5 female) were recruited. Performance on a range of standardized academic-related outcome measures was assessed with and without 2.50 diopters of simulated bilateral hyperopia (administered in a randomized order), before and after 20 minutes of sustained near work, at two separate testing sessions. Academic-related measures included a standardized reading test (the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability), visual information processing tests (the Coding and Symbol Search subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children), and a reading-related eye movement test (the Developmental Eye Movement test). RESULTS: Simulated bilateral hyperopia and sustained near work each independently impaired reading, visual information processing, and reading-related eye movement performance (p < 0.001). A significant interaction was also demonstrated between these factors (p < 0.05), with the greatest decrement in performance observed when simulated hyperopia was combined with sustained near work. This combination resulted in performance reductions of between 5 and 24% across the range of academic-related measures. A significant moderate correlation was also found between the change in horizontal near heterophoria and the change in several of the academic-related outcome measures, after the addition of simulated hyperopia. CONCLUSIONS: A relatively low level of simulated bilateral hyperopia impaired children's performance on a range of academic-related outcome measures, with sustained near work further exacerbating this effect. Further investigations are required to determine the impact of correcting low levels of hyperopia on academic performance in children. |
DOI | 10.1097/OPX.0000000000000467 |
Alternate Journal | Optom Vis Sci |
PubMed ID | 25525890 |
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