@article{ref1,
title="Vergence, accommodation, and visual tracking in children and adolescents evaluated in a multidisciplinary concussion clinic",
journal="Vision research",
year="2021",
author="Wiecek, Emily K. and Roberts, Tawna L. and Shah, Ankoor S. and Raghuram, Aparna",
volume="184",
number="",
pages="30-36",
abstract="Many patients with concussion experience visual symptoms following injury that lead to a diagnosis of convergence insufficiency, accommodative insufficiency, or saccadic dysfunction. However, these diagnostic categories are based on aggregates of clinical tests developed from a non-concussed population and therefore may not accurately describe visual deficits in the concussed population. Thus, we sought to understand individual metrics of visual dysfunction in chronically symptomatic post-concussion patients. This retrospective cross-sectional study included patients examined at the multidisciplinary concussion clinic (MDCC) at Boston Children's Hospital over four years. Patients aged 5-21 years who had a complete assessment of eye alignment, vergence, accommodation, and visual tracking, and had visual acuity better than or equal to 20/30 in each eye were included. Patients with history of amblyopia, strabismus, or ocular pathology were excluded. Chart review yielded 116 patients who met inclusion criteria (median age 15 years, 64% female). The majority of patients (52%) experienced a single concussion and most were sports-related (50%). Clinical data show vergence, accommodation, or visual tracking deficits in 95% of patients. A receded near point of convergence (NPC, 70/116) and reduced accommodative amplitude (63/116) were the most common deficits. Both NPC and accommodative amplitude were significantly correlated with one another (r = -0.5) and with measures of visual tracking (r = -0.34). Patients with chronic post-concussion symptoms show deficits in individual metrics of vergence, accommodation and visual tracking. The high incidence of these deficits, specifically NPC and accommodative amplitude, highlights the need for a detailed sensorimotor evaluation to guide personalized treatment following concussion.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0042-6989",
doi="10.1016/j.visres.2021.03.002",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2021.03.002"
}