Abstract
Purpose :
To determine the association between ocular dominance and handedness in glaucoma patients.
Methods :
175 consented participating patients were recruited and enrolled in the study. Participants completed validated self-administered questionnaires to determine eye preference and patient’s handedness (Edinburg Handedness Inventory questionnaire). Ocular dominance was assessed using the Dolman (hole-in-the-card) and the Miles tests.The data was statistically analyzed using SPSS Software.
Results :
Participants mean age was 67.1±11.9 years; 62% were females and 38% were males. The eye preference questionnaire showed 74.9% were right-eye preferred, 22.9% were left-eye preferred, and 2.3% preferred to use both eyes. Ocular dominance assessed by Dolman test showed 57.7% were right-eye dominant, 38.3% were left eye-dominant, and 4.0% were both-eyed dominant. Miles test showed right-eye dominance in 53.1% of patients, left-eye dominance in 26.9%, and 20.0% were both-eyed dominant. Disagreement between the two ocular dominance tests occurred in 29.1% of patients. The agreement of measurements between the tests was moderate (Kappa=0.559 p<0.001). The Edinburg Handedness questionnaire found 89.1% patients were right-handed, 6.3% left-handed, and 4.6% were ambidextrous. By Dolman test, patients showed 56.6% uncrossed hand-ocular dominance and 43.4% had crossed dominance. By Miles test, 52.6% patients showed uncrossed hand-ocular dominance and 47.4% had crossed dominance. No significant association was found between ocular dominance and handedness by both Miles and Dolman tests (Kappa=0.063, p=0.107 and Kappa=0.055, p=0.192, respectively).
Conclusions :
Majority of the glaucoma patients in this study population showed right eye preference and dominance. However, there were differences in the measurements between Miles and Dolman test among participants that are both-eyed dominant. The Dolman test appears to be a better test in determining ocular dominance due to the constant 3cm hole-in-the-card and the difference in the results obtained may be related to the variance in hole size made by participants hands in the Miles test. Better standardization may be required to further compare these two tests. Furthermore, the study showed no significant relationship between the ocular dominance and handedness but support the brain lateralization of crossed and uncrossed ocular dominance and hand preference. Further studies are required to confirm these observations.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.