Abstract
Purpose :
Vision proficiency is crucial for sports performance as it influences an athlete’s ability to possess visual information and react to dynamic environments. This study investigated the prevalence of refractive errors and assessed visual health of elite athletes in Hong Kong, a city with a high prevalence of myopia and astigmatism.
Methods :
A cohort of 106 elite athletes was recruited from the Government’s elite sport training institute for comprehensive eye examinations. Habitual and best-corrected distance visual acuity were assessed using a calibrated digital visual acuity chart. The Randot Stereotests were used to determine distance and near stereopsis under habitual conditions. Subjective refraction and ocular health evaluation were conducted under standardized optometric procedures.
Results :
Among the participating athletes, 97 specialized in vision-centric sports such as badminton, table tennis, and fencing, while 9 competed in swimming and athletics. The athletes’ age ranged from 10 to 46 years (23.48±7.52), with an equal male-to-female ratio. Myopia, defined as spherical-equivalence (SE) ≤-0.50D, was prevalent, affecting 66.0% of the athletes, with 5.7% exhibiting high myopia (SE ≤-6.00D). Astigmatism with a cylindrical power (Cyl) ≥0.75DC was found in 28.3% of the athletes, with 11.3% having high astigmatism (Cyl ≥2.00DC). Over half of the athletes had a habitual distance visual acuity worse than 0.0 logMAR, and 13.2% were even worse than 0.3 logMAR. A significant average improvement of 0.15 logMAR in distance visual acuity was observed following subjective refraction (p <0.001). Due to incorrect optical correction and ocular deviations, 38.7% of athletes failed to achieve a distance stereoacuity of 60”, and 42.5% could not surpass 40” near stereoacuity. New diagnoses of ocular diseases included one case of keratoconus and three cases of retinal degeneration.
Conclusions :
Alarmingly, a notable proportion of elite athletes in our study exhibited subnormal visual acuity and binocular visual functions. Considering the high visual demands inherent in many sports, regular eye examinations are strongly advocated for athletes, particularly in Asian countries where refractive errors are highly prevalent. Such proactive measures can ensure their visual status is optimized and enhance their on-field performance.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.