Prevalence of Dry Eyes Symptoms in Association with Contact Lenses and Refractive Status in Portugal

Background: Determine whether the presence of ocular symptoms in soft-contact-lens wearers changes depending on the refractive status. Methods: During the months of January to March 2022, the CLDEQ-8 questionnaire was administered to soft-contact-lens wearers. The statistical analysis was carried out using the SPSS 27.0 computer program (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: A total of 251 subjects participated in the study, with a higher percentage of myopes than hyperopes (82.1% versus 16.7%; p < 0.001). Out of all total participants, 21.5% suffered from dry-eye symptoms. It was noted that hyperopes presented a higher rate of dry-eye symptoms (p = 0.041). At the same time, the spherical equivalent was more positive in the participants with dry-eye symptoms (p = 0.014). Significant differences were found based on the symptoms present with contact lenses and the degree of myopia. The intensity of visual disturbances was higher in the participants with medium myopia (median [IQR]: 1/5 [2]) compared to those with low (median [IQR]: 0/5 [2]) and high myopia (median [IQR]: 0/5 [1]) (p = 0.009). Conclusions: Contact-lens wearers with hyperopia showed a higher rate of ocular dryness than those with myopia. In turn, wearing daily-replacement lenses could be one of the reasons for the lesser presence of ocular dryness compared to monthly-replacement lenses.Sección Deptal. de Óptica (Óptica)Fac. de Óptica y OptometríaTRUEpu

Myopia and Other Visual Disorders in Children

Depto. de Optometría y VisiónFac. de Óptica y OptometríaTRUEpu

Citation Network Analysis on the Influence of Vision on Academic Performance

Background: Proper vision is absolutely critical to children’s academic performance, as vision problems can drastically affect learning ability. Currently, the existing literature in this field is somewhat inconsistent and carries several controversies about the influence of vision on academic performance. In this study, citation networks were utilized in order to analyze the relationship between publications and authors, the most-cited publication, and the different research areas. Additionally, the most commonly utilized publication sources along with the most common research areas were also pinpointed. Methods: The aforementioned search was executed in the Web of Science database, with a time range beginning in 1941 and ending in 2022. In order to scrutinize the publications, VOSviewer, CiteSpace software, and the Citation Network Explorer were utilized for analysis about the most-cited publication and the different research areas. Results: Overall, 1342 papers were found in all fields along with 2187 citation networks. Moreover, 2020 was the year with the most publications, including 127 publications and 4 citation networks. Bull et al., published in 2008, was the most-cited work, reaching a citation index of 975. The clustering function managed to identity four groups with the most engaging research topics from researchers: motor visual skills, visual memory, the influence of vision on the different learning styles, and abnormal development of the visual system. Conclusions: In the end, the topic with the greatest interest was the influence of visual motor skills on academic performance. Ideally, this paper will assist fellow researchers in quickly noting which topics are of greatest interest and how research in this area has evolved.Depto. de Optometría y VisiónFac. de Óptica y OptometríaTRUEpu

Artificial intelligence applied to ophthalmology and optometry: A citation network analysis

Purpose: The objective of this study is to analyse co-authorship and co-citation networks of publications in the field of artificial intelligence in ophthalmology and optometry. As well as, identify the different areas of research and the most cited publication. Method: A search of publications was performed in the Web of Science database for the period from 1977 to December 2021, using the term “Artificial Intelligence AND (Ophthalmol* OR optometry)”. The analysis of the publication was carried out using the Citation Network Explorer, VOSviewer and CiteSpace software. Results: 1086 publications and 2348 citation networks were found. 2020 was the year with the highest number of publications, a total of 351 publications and 115 citation networks. The most cited publication was “Clinically applicable deep learning for diagnosis and referral in retinal disease” published by De Fauw et al. in 2018, with a citation index of 723. Through the clustering function, three groups were found that cover the main research areas in this field: retinal pathology, anterior segment and glaucoma. Conclusions: The citation network analysis offers an in-depth analysis of scientific publications and the adoption of new topics and fields of research. The results of an exhaustive analysis of citation networks in artificial intelligence in the field of ophthalmology and optometry are presented since the publication of the first article in 1977.Depto. de Optometría y VisiónFac. de Óptica y OptometríaTRUEpu

Social Media Impact of Myopia Research

Myopia has become a public health issue worldwide. The fast increase in myopia prevalence in the last years has been accompanied by an increase in information through social and conventional media. This has led to the fight not only against a pandemic but also against the infodemic. The excess of information has made it increasingly difficult for health professionals to identify high-quality articles. Alternative Metrics are useful tools to identify publications that provoke attention to society. This research aims to study the impact that research on myopia has had on social media. Methods: Almetric Explorer was used to make a search using “myopia” as a keyword. The 100 outputs with the highest attention were analyzed and correlated with the number of cites on Web of Science using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Results: The top 100 Altmetric Attention Score were published in 47 journals and had a mean value of Altmetric Attention Score of 437.61 ± 718.33. The outputs were mostly discussed on Twitter, with a mean of 296.36 ± 1585.58 tweets and retweets, and a mean of 185.18 ± 211.57 readers in Mendeley. There was a low correlation between Altmetric Attention Score and Web of Science Cites for the top-100 outputs. Conclusions: although myopia is a research topic with a high interest in society, most cited articles are not those with the most impact on social media. Myopia researchers should make more effort in promoting their goals, and social media is a useful tool to share them.Depto. de Optometría y VisiónFac. de Óptica y OptometríaTRUEpu

Differences in Visuospatial Expertise between Skeet Shooting Athletes and Non-Athletes

Background: Sports vision is a specialisation of optometry whose objective is to improve and preserve visual function to increase sports performance. The main objective of the present study was to compare the visual expertise of non-athletes to skeet shooting athletes. Methods: Participants underwent an optometric assessment in which all those with severe deviations from normal vision, after compensating for visual abnormalities, were eliminated. After that, the following six visuospatial components were measured: hand–eye coordination, peripheral awareness, fixation disparity, saccadic eye movements, speed of recognition and visual memory. To measure the aforementioned components, the following tests were used: directional arrows, similar and different characters, the dichromatic disparity test, character marking, a tachistoscopic test and tic-tac-toe using COI-vision software. Results: Skeet shooting athletes performed significatively better (p ≤ 0.05) in two out of the six tests: hand–eye coordination and visual memory. Conclusions: Although this study does not support the theory that athletes—in this case, skeet shooting athletes—perform significantly better in most components of the visuospatial tests, visual memory and hand–eye coordination are exceptions. To be more accurate in distinguishing between athletes and non-athletes, specific testing methods that can be used by a wide variety of disciplines should be developed. Training the weakest aspects of athletes can improve their sports performance

Vision in Futsal Players: Coordination and Reaction Time

Background: Coordination and reaction time are relevant aspects of a sport’s competitive performance within teams. The aim of this study was to explore if a group of futsal players, in a laboratory context, would present better results from actions where vision is prevalent compared to a control group without contact with futsal or any other sport. Methods: The digital system of the COI- SV software was used; six tests were selected, related to coordination (“Eye/hand coordination”; “Coordination and identification”) and reaction time (“Anticipation Time”; “Peripheral response”; “reaction time”; “Visual memory”). Results: Of all the tests performed, only in the anticipation time test did the futsal players obtain better results than the control group. The average time of the failures was lower in relation to the control group. In the others, no differences were found between the two groups. Conclusions: The futsal players did not perform better than the control group in most of the tests carried out, except in the “anticipation time”. Therefore, visual training maybe necessary to improve visual skills and sports performance

The Role of Social Media in Sports Vision

Background: Sports vision is a relatively new specialty. The objective is to provide ophthalmological and optometric care services for the care of vision in the sports field. An increasing number of athletes and coaches are trying to improve visual skills and they seek information on social media. The current excess of information has made it increasingly difficult to identify high quality articles. For this reason, alternative metrics are useful tools to identify publications that draw attention to society. This research aims to study the influence of social networks on the importance of vision in sport. Methods: Altmetric Explorer was used to perform a search using “sport”, “vision” and “eye” as keywords. The 100 outcomes with the most attention were analyzed and correlated with the number of citations in the Web of Science (WoS) using the Spearman correlation coefficient. Results: The 100 best Altmetric Attention Scores (AASs) were published in 67 journals and had a mean AAS value of 30.22 ± 62.37 The results were discussed mainly on Twitter, with a mean of 113.99 ± 43.86 tweets and retweets and a mean of 75.92 ± 79.92 readers in Mendeley. There was no correlation between AAS and WoS Cites for the top 100 outcomes and the correlation was low if we considered the total research results rather than the top 100. Conclusions: The citations are not related to the impact of scientific articles on social networks. Sports vision is a specialty with a growing interest in social media

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The Prevalence of Myopia in Children in Spain: An Updated Study in 2020

In recent years, there was a significant increase in myopia incidence worldwide. However, it is still not clear how it affects Spanish children. Since 2016, this research team analyzed myopia prevalence and risk in 9668 children aged between 5 and 7 years. It was shown that the prevalence rates increased from 16.8% in 2016 to 20.4% in 2019. The objective of this study is to update the prevalence rate of myopia in Spain in 2020 and analyze the risk and prevention factors of myopia. Methods: The participants underwent an optometric examination, and a questionnaire on their lifestyle, family history, and geographical origin was carried out. Finally, data were analyzed using the SPSS version 27 program. Results: 1601 children from various Autonomous Communities of Spain were examined. In 2020 the myopia rates did not increase compared to 2019 (p 0.05). There was a link between the time spent in near vision and family history with the prevalence of myopia (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The prevalence of myopia in Spain in children between 5 and 7 years old increased significantly between 2016 and 2020.Depto. de Optometría y VisiónFac. de Óptica y OptometríaTRUEFundación Alain Afflelou (España)pu