| Sumario: | Background: To investigate binocular findings in a nonselected group of patients examined in optometric practice, and in this group to analyze the frequency of meeting the criteria for convergence and accommodative insufficiency. Methods: In this national multi center study, 159 patients that voluntarily made appointments for visual examination and were found to meet the inclusion criteria, were examined following a specified protocol that included answering a questionnaire, a series of tests with the habitual correction, followed by refraction and specified sequence of binocular measurements. Results: Mean values and standard deviation for all measurements were compared with expected values according to commonly used optometric norms. The binocular findings closely followed Morgans norms of expected values. The frequency of meeting the criteria for convergence insufficiency and accommodative insufficiency was analyzed for the total group and for three age groups. For convergence insufficiency the frequency was 9.4% for the total group (n=159), 11.9% for 8-15 years of age (n=42), 6.6% for 16-25 years of age (n=61) and 10.0% for 26-35 years of age (n=56). For accommodative insufficiency the frequency was 17.6% in the total group (n=159), 50.0% for 8-15 years of age (n=42), 9.0% for 16-25 years of age (n=61) and 2.0% for 26-35 years of age (n=56). Conclusion: The frequency of meeting the criteria for primary convergence insufficiency and accommodative insufficiency was found to be high in the examined population, compared to other studies. For patients 8-15 years of age, positive relative convergence for near (40cm), negative relative accommodation and accommodative amplitude were below expected values and the criteria for accommodative insufficiency was significantly more met in the group (p<0.001).
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