Convergence insufficiency and visual attention: exploratory study in graduate students

Aims – The convergence insufficiency (CI) interferes with the ability to perform near activities. This study aims to investigate visual attention deficits in higher education students with CI. Methods – A cross-sectional study was developed. Forty-four students (n=44), from ESTeSL, with ages between 18 and 24 years old participated. The students were distributed in two groups, one with Normal Binocular Vision (NBV) and the other with CI. In CI group were included students with reduced: near point of convergence (NPC) and/or near fusional amplitude of convergence (C’). The bells cancellation test was used to evaluate visual attention. Results – Thirty-two students (n=32) were included in the NBV group (23 females and 9 males) and 12 were included in the CI group (11 females and 1 male). The average number of identified bells for the visual attention test was 34.6 for the NBV group and 34.3 for the CI group. The average time to complete the test was 167,9s and 198,3s for the NBV and CI groups respectively. A mild positive correlation between the NPC and the average time was found (r≈0.63). A weak positive correlation between the average number of identified bells and C’ (r≈0.16) was observed. On the other hand, weak negative correlations were found between the NPC and the average number of identified bells (r≈-0.48) and between the average time and C’ (r≈-0.05). Discussion/Conclusion – The NBV group presents a higher average of identified bells than the CI. The students from the CI group took more time to complete the test when compared to the NBV group. These results point to a possible decreasing of visual attention induced by CI.