EFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON AMPLITUDE OF ACCOMMODATION (AA) OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF MADONNA UNIVERSITY, ELELE CAMPUS, RIVERS STATE NIGERIA
1Oboh Roland A., 2Mube William A. & 1Jibrin, Augustine, C.
‘Department of Optometry, Madonna University, Elele Campus, Rivers State, Nigeria
‘Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital
Corresponding Email: rolandoboh1@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Alcohol is a known central nervous system (CNS) depressant, having properties in common with general anesthetic agents, appearing to depress the midbrain reticular activating system. This experimental study ascertained the effect of alcohol (Brandy) on amplitude of accommodation (AA) of undergraduate students of Madonna University, Elele, Rivers state, Nigeria. A total of 53 young adults between the ages of 18 – 29 years with a mean age of 22.13 ± 2.49 years were involved in this study out of which 30 (56.60%) were males with mean age of 22.27 ± 2.92 years and 23 (43.40%) were females with mean age of 21.96 ± 1.82 years. The AA was measured before the ingestion of 40ml of alcoholic beverage after which same measurement was repeated three times consecutively after 15, 30 and 45 minutes respectively. Data collected were analyzed using statistical package for social science (SPSS version 25). The Friedman’s test was used to test for significance on the effect of alcohol on AA across the various periods of measurements. Gender influence on the effect of alcohol on AA was analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis test. Statistical significance was considered at p-value ≤ 0.05 (level of significance). The findings showed a slight reduction in mean AA after 15mins (10.81± 2.19), 30minutes (9.51 ± 2.18) and 45 minutes (8.74 ± 2.27) when compared to the mean baseline (12.60± 2.51) for the right eye (OD). There was also a slight reduction of mean AA after 15minutes (10.75± 1.76), 30minutes (9.66 ± 1.76) and 45 minutes (8.91 ± 1.99), when compared to the mean baseline (12.49± 2.13) for the left eye (OS). There was no statistically significant association between gender and the effect of alcohol on AA. The study concluded that concentrated alcoholic beverages are capable of causing a slight decrease in AA lasting over 45 minutes and recommended that alcohol intake should be avoided at least 60 minutes prior to engaging in visually tasking activities especially among individuals with accommodative or convergence anomalies.
Key words: Alcohol, accommodation, convergence, visual task.
