Sports vision testing of selected athletic participants in the 1997 and 1998 AAU Junior Olympic Games.

Background: Sports vision researchers have attempted to establish the need for vision care services for athletes and the relationship between visual skills and athletic success.

Methods: Data collected from sports vision screenings at the 1997 and 1998 Amateur Athletic Union AAU Junior Olympic Games was compiled for analysis. Four hundred forty-nine athletes, ranging in ages from 5 to 19 years old and representing 12 sports, were part of the sports vision epidemiology project conducted by the American Optometric Association Sports Vision Section. Protocols from the AOA Sports Vision Section were used to assess the visual systems of athletes participating in the games. The history included evaluation of the use of vision care services, refractive correction type, and symptomology. The screening assessed visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, ocular alignment, eye-hand dominance, handspeed, footspeed, speed of stereopsis, speed of recognition, eye movements, hand-eye coordination, anterior-segment health, and posterior-segment health. Performance testing was analyzed by age group and sport.

Results: In this population of athletes, eye care was under-utilized. The performance testing indicated an increase in performance with increasing age for most tests. With increasing age, there was a decrease in the number of fixation losses, an increase in footspeed, and a decrease in handspeed. The norms for the performance tests are reported by age group and by sport.

Conclusions: The results of this study imply that athletic populations at all levels are in need of eye care services. The norms derived from this investigation act as a standard for the evaluation of vision performance using the AOA Sports Vision Testing Battery.