USAFA CADETS

EACH YEAR A NUMBER OF PREVIOUSLY VISUALLY-QUALIFIED USAFA CADETS BECOME UNQUALIFIED ON THE VISUAL PORTION OF THE PHYSICAL EXAMINATION AND BECOME INELIGIBLE FOR PILOT TRAINING. THE INCREASED MYOPIA IS A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM FOR THE AF ACADEMY WHICH IS MANDATED TO GRADUATE A MINIMUM NUMBER OF PILOT-QUALIFIED CADETS. ALTHOUGH THE UNDERLYING, MECHANISM FOR THIS INCREASE IN MYOPIA IS UNKNOWN, A MEASURE THAT CORRELATES WITH THE INCREASED WOULD ALLOW FOR SELECTION OF CADETS ON THE BASIS OF RESISTANCE TO INCIPIENT MYOPIA. THIS PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL TESTING BASED ON A THEORETIAL CORRELATE OF THE INCREASE IN MYOPIA. NAMELY, IT IS HYPOTHESIZED THAT THE DISPARITY BETWEEN THE VISUAL FAR POINT AND THE DARK FOCUS OF ACCOMMODATION MAY BE USED AS AN INDEX OF MYOPIA TENDENCY. THE APPROCH PROPOSED IS TO MEASURE THE DARK FOCUS OF ACCOMMODATION IN A SAMPLES OF CADETS WHO WERE PILOT-QUALIFIED ON ENTRY INTO USAFA. THE SAMPLES WILL BE DRAWN FORM EACH CLASS AT THE ACADEMY. PHYSICAL EXAMINATION DATA WILL PROVIDE THE FAR POINT MEASUREFOR COMPARISON. CONCOMITANT WITH THIS APPROACH IS DEVELOPMENT OF A RAPID SCREENING PROCEDURE FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF THE DARK FOCUS. DATA WILL BE ANALYZED TO DETERMINE THE VALIDITY OF THE HYPOTHESIS.