The Influence of COVID-19 Isolation on Physical Activity Habits and Its Relationship with Convergence Insufficiency

• Main Authors: Daniel Mon-López, Ricardo Bernardez-Vilaboa, Antonio Alvarez Fernandez-Balbuena, Manuel Sillero-Quintana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-10-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: eye; coronavirus; confinement; optometry; exercise; lifestyle
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/20/7406
• ISSN: 1661-7827; 1660-4601

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the effects of confinement due to COVID-19 isolation on visual function, considering insufficient convergence as one of the possible effects of living the whole day in a reduced space. We pass a Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey (CISS) among 235 people to detect their habits before and after 25 confinement days. The data collection protocol consisted on a Google forms questionnaire included two parts: the first with current data (isolation period) and a second with pre-isolation period data. Differences between the pre-isolation and isolation period were calculated using the related paired T-tests. When statistically significant differences were found, the effect size was estimated using the Cohen’s d index (d). The reduction in physical activity levels during confinement were related to the increase in total number of minutes of screen consumption from 433.49 min to 623.97 min per day (d = 0.67; 44.01%). The CISS scores were increased by more than 43% during confinement. The increase in convergence insufficiency was 100% after the studied isolation period of 25 days. The 92.19% increase in television use during 25 days of confinement is not responsible for the increase in convergence insufficiency. However, due to the increase in the use of PCs in this period, there is a notable increase in convergence insufficiency. Therefore, we can conclude that not all increases in tasks with electronic devices are responsible for the increase in convergence insufficiency.