The influence of age, sex and visual dysfunction on reading ability in school-children

t. Binocular and accommodative dysfunctions affect the efficiency and coordination of the eyes, and this may impair reading performance. Reading can be evaluated using accuracy and speed measures. In this study, we searched for evidence that dysfunctions of accommodation (i.e. accommodation insufficiency, IA) and binocular vision (i.e. convergence insufficiency, CI) and also hyperopia have impact on reading ability. A sample of 292 children read a text following vision screening. The sample was composed of control children and children with the conditions: AI; CI and hyperopia. Multilinear regression analysis was used to evaluate the influence of variables sex, age and visual condition (control, AI, CI and hyperopia) on reading accuracy and speed. The results showed that ~7% of the variation in reading accuracy was explained by a model where age (p=0.001), and presence of AI (p
This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding UID/FIS/04650/2013.