Repeat cycloplegic examinations at the Naval Operational Medicine Institute

Cycloplegic examination is required for applicants who desire entry into Naval Aviation training. Before this study, all cycloplegic examinations performed at any site were repeated at the Naval Operational Medicine Institute (NOMI), Pensacola, FL, on all student naval aviator (SNA) candidates to assess for latent hyperopia which exceeded established limits for entry into training.

Repeat cycloplegic examination does not vary sufficiently to change student status regarding physical qualification for training.

Data analysis of cycloplegic examinations repeated at the NOMI, for which the first and second examination were recorded in the Aviation Medical Data Retrieval System (AMDRS), over 10 yr.

There were 3919 SNA applicants who had cycloplegic examinations repeated at NOMI. Of them, 3903 (99.59%) were within standards on the repeat examination. There were 16 candidates who were sent to NOMI with a previously disqualifying cycloplegic examination. On second cycloplegic examination, 15 were within standards for SNA. Only 15 of the SNAs with a first cycloplegic examination within standards were outside SNA standards on repeat examination. Of these 15, 12 were also outside SNA standards in distant visual acuity and/or in manifest refraction. The remaining 3 were found to have excessive myopia, not latent hyperopia, on the second cycloplegic examination. The standard deviation between the first and the second cycloplegic examination was computed to be less than 0.50 diopters in any meridian.

The cycloplegic examination of SNA candidates need only be repeated if the first cycloplegic examination is outside the SNA limit or within two standard deviations of the SNA limit.