Researchers identify age at which children reach adult distance stereoacuity

Distance stereoacuity improves most significantly among children between the ages of 4 and 5 years and reaches adult levels at about 5 years of age, a study found.

To determine the range and development of normal distance stereoacuity in visually normal children, Soo-Chul Park MD, and colleagues compared Frisby-Davis distance stereotest measurements for 94 children who were 36 to 131 months of age with measurements obtained from 46 visually normal adults who were 20 to 49 years of age.

The investigators found that, among children aged between 36 and 59 months, the distance stereoacuity was 40.61 seconds of arc, significantly greater than a distance stereoacuity of 14.18 seconds of arc among children aged between 60 and 119 months of age (P = .000).

However, the distance stereoacuity for the adult cohort was 12.5 seconds of arc, representing an insignificant difference when compared with the distance stereoacuity of the older child cohort, the authors noted.

"Although the sample size for each age group in this study was rather small, the age-related normal values obtained in this study could serve as a useful reference frame for comparison of data obtained for clinical populations and in screening tests," the study authors said in the September issue of British Journal of Ophthalmology.