Near point of convergence amongst school aged children with refractive errors in Bali

Abstract

Background: Near Point of Convergence (NPC) is a nearest point where the image still properly fused and the patient do not experience double vision. However, there is still no study that evaluate the normative value of NPC in Indonesia. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate NPC break and recovery amongst school aged children with refractive error in Badung Regency, Bali.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from July to September 2018. Data were collected prospectively from the examinations of school aged children in four elementary schools. Categorical data were described in frequency and percentage. The others were described in median. Kruskal Wallis test was used to statistically analyzed the data.Results: A total of 149 children were included in this study, which consisted of 56.4% women and 43.6% men. Most of the students were at 7years old age group (25.5%), while only minority who in the 12-years old age group (2%). Median NPC Break is 3,5 cm and 3,70 cm in male and female, respectively (p = 0,77). The median NPC break and recovery was greater in the 9 to 12 years old group compared to the other groups (p = 0.007 and p =0.00, respectively). Finally, hypermetropia had a greater NPC break and recovery than another groups (p = 0.05). Conclusion: There were significant differences between NPC break and recovery value according to the age group and underlying refractive error.