Visual Discomfort and Reading

This study has been completed.

First Received on November 17, 2006. Last Updated on November 11, 2009 History of Changes

Sponsor:	Southern California College of Optometry
Collaborator:	National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Information provided by:	Southern California College of Optometry
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00402155

Purpose

Reading can be an uncomfortable and difficult task for some people. Symptoms include unpleasant somatic and perceptual effects, such as eye-strain, headache, and blurred text, despite normal visual acuity. This condition has been called Visual Discomfort, but little is known about the symptoms and frequency of reading problems associated with this disorder. Several studies have proposed that Visual Discomfort is caused by increased noise in the visual system due to spreading cortical activation across different spatial frequency channels. This study examines the prevalence and severity of visual discomfort in a college student population and tests the noisy visual system hypothesis.

Condition	Intervention
Visual Fatigue	Behavioral: Stress on visual discomfort

Study Type:	Observational
Study Design:	Observational Model: Case Control Time Perspective: Prospective
Official Title:	Visual Discomfort and Reading

Resource links provided by NLM:

MedlinePlus related topics: Fatigue

U.S. FDA Resources

Further study details as provided by Southern California College of Optometry:

Estimated Enrollment:	100
Study Start Date:	July 2004
Study Completion Date:	December 2008

Groups/Cohorts	Assigned Interventions
1 Normal subjects	Behavioral: Stress on visual discomfort Effects of visual discomfort are measured by contrast sensitivity, ERGs, and accommodative stability.
2 Reading discomfort subjects	Behavioral: Stress on visual discomfort Effects of visual discomfort are measured by contrast sensitivity, ERGs, and accommodative stability.

Show Detailed Description

Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:	17 Years to 30 Years
Genders Eligible for Study:	Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:	Yes
Sampling Method:	Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Subjects will be chosen from the student population and Claremont McKenna College.

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

normal College age subjects with low visual discomfort scores on the Conlon visual discomfort survey.
normal College age subjects with high visual discomfort scores on the Conlon visual discomfort survey.

Exclusion Criteria:

English as a second language, uncorrected visual defects, reading disabilities, medical conditions that might cause uncomfortable visual symptoms, strabismus, stereopsis less than 70 seconds of arc, any ocular pathology, color vision deficiency, IQ less than 90.

Contacts and Locations

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00402155

Locations

United States, California
Claremont McKenna College
Claremont, California, United States, 91711

Sponsors and Collaborators

Southern California College of Optometry

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Investigators

Principal Investigator:	Chris Chase, PhD	Claremont McKenna College
Study Director:	William H. Ridder,III, OD, PhD	Southern California College of Optometry
Study Director:	Eric Borsting, OD, MS	Southern California College of Optometry

More Information

No publications provided

Responsible Party:	William Ridder, Southern California College of Optometry
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00402155 History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers:	SCCO2-2218, NEI EY015922
Study First Received:	November 17, 2006
Last Updated:	November 11, 2009
Health Authority:	United States: Institutional Review Board

Keywords provided by Southern California College of Optometry:

electroretinogram
visual evoked potential
contrast sensitivity

Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Asthenopia
Fatigue
Eye Diseases
Signs and Symptoms

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on May 24, 2012