CONTRAST SENSITIVITY AS A METHOD OF EARLY DETECTION OF REFRACTIVE DISORDERS OF SCHOOLCHILDREN OF VARIOUS AGES

The aim of the study was to correlate the state of the refractive and adaptive systems and indicators of contrast sensitivity of schoolchildren of different age groups. The scheme of age periodization of a person, which takes into account anatomical, physiological and social factors, is used in the work. Visual acuity has been studied using GolovinSivtsev Tables. Contrast optotype tables have been used to determine contrast sensitivity. It is established that with age there is an increase in the frequency of clinically significant cases of myopia in both girls and boys. The frequency of its detection (33.74%; n = 251) in schoolchildren who participated in our study is almost twice as high as frequency of detection of hyperopia (17.20%; n = 128). The general trends in the deterioration of contrast sensitivity generally corresponded to changes in the state of the refractory apparatus in groups of female and male schoolchildren and were identical in nature. It has been found that the group of persons with index of contrast sensitivity in the range of 0–2 includes 73.04% of the total number of females and 72.0% of the total number of males belonging to different age groups in which the refractive error was found. Thus, there is a statistically significant increase in the frequency of clinically significant cases of deterioration of the refractive and adaptive system during the transition among female and male schoolchildren from younger to older age groups. At the same time with age there is an increase in the number of hyperopia in girls without such a trend in boys. A similar trend has been found in these age groups of schoolchildren in the analysis of the state of contrast sensitivity of vision using a table of contrast optotypes. The similarity of trends in the increase in the frequency of clinically significant cases of disorders of contrast sensitivity and refractive and adaptive system suggests that tables of contrast optotypes can be used as an early method of preclinical diagnosis of refractive errors in school-aged children. In this case, the study of contrast sensitivity of schoolchildren can be conducted by teachers, nurses during lessons on human anatomy and physiology, physics, ecology using a screening method. At the same time, the issues of application of this technique by teachers remain uncertain with which it is possible to easily and quickly investigate and assess the functional state of students' visual analyzer.