Convergence insufficiency (CI) is a binocular anomaly associated with difficulty of the two eyes to converge during near vision. This study investigated the performance of binocular vision in subjects with CI. The performance of binocular vision that comprised of distant binocular visual acuity (VA), near binocular VA and stereoacuity of subjects with CI were compared with normals. Thirty subjects with CI of mean age 17.33 ±5.49 year-old and 30 normal subjects of mean age 18.77 ± 6.08 year-old with visual acuity of VA 6/6 or better, spherical refractive error of no more than ± 4.00 DS, astigmatism no more than 2.00 DC, non-strabismic and never had vision therapy, with good general and ocular health were recruited for the study. The monocular VA of the right eye, monocular VA of the left eye, binocular VA and stereoacuity of the two groups of subjects were measured and the data were compared. Results of the study showed significant differences in the distance binocular VA (t = 2.31, p < 0.05), near binocular VA (t = 0.89, p < 0.05) and stereoacuity (Z = -2.81, p < 0.01) between CI and normal subjects. The study concludes that subjects with CI experienced reduced performances distance binocular VA, near binocular VA and stereoacuity compared with normal subjects.

This study aimsto determine the reliability and validity and optimal cut-off scores of the Malay version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment for visually impaired (MoCA-BM-blind) among older adults with cognitive decline. Participants for this study were recruited from the population-based longitudinal study on neuroprotective model for healthy longevity (LRGS TUA) among Malaysian older adults. A total of 220 participants, aged 60 years and above, from Selangor were included in this study. Cognitive functions were assessed using MoCA-BM-blind and Malay version of Mini-Mental State Examination for visually impaired (M-MMSE-blind). Habitual distance VA was measured monocularly using the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study chart. Cronbach’s alpha and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to determine reliability and validity of MoCA-BM-blind, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was conducted to determine the optimal cut-off score for MoCA-BM-blind. Reliability (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.76) and validity (Pearson correlation: r = 0.77) of MoCA-BM-blind were high. The optimal cutoff for MoCA-BM-blind in detecting cognitive decline was 9 with 86.8% sensitivity and 72.7% specificity. With this cut-off, 35.0% visually impaired participants were classified as having cognitive decline. MoCA-BM-blind is a valid and reliable screening tool to assess cognitive function among visually impaired older adults.
Aging