The Comparison of depth perception in healthy adolescents and patients with thalassemia major

The severest form of thalassemia is beta thalassemia with regular need for blood transfusion and medical care. Treatments such as desferrioxamine injection and regular blood transfusion cause several complications in patients'' vital organs including eyes. The vision is considerably more sensitive than other senses in perceptual-motor responses and it is also sensitive to details، depth، and color. As a result، it has a decisive role in controlling movement. This study has been conducted to draw a comparison of depth perception in healthy adolescents and patients with thalassemia major. This method is semi-experimental and the sample was 18 thalassemic patients and 18 healthy subjects within the age range of 13-17 years (15. 33 ± 1. 37) who were selected through sampling. These subjects have been evaluated three times by the depth perception device made by the researchers; it has the capability to assess the depth perception with the smallest error (one ten thousandth cm). The average of these three time tests was used as depth perception score. Independent T-test results showed significant difference between healthy adolescents and patients with thalassemia major (t=-18. 52، p≤ 0. 0001، df = 34). The average error in the healthy adolescents was significantly lower (MD = 14. 01). The probable reasons that affect the loss of depth perception in thalassemia major were anemia، chronic hypoxia، inactivity or increased iron deposition in tissues of the eye. It requires a solution in this regard due to the importance of depth perception in human motor behavior.