Deterioration of binocular vision after alcohol intake influences driving performance Martino, Francesco Castro Torres, José Juan Casares López, Miriam Ortiz Peregrina, Sonia Ortiz Herrera, Carolina González Anera, María Del Rosario This research was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (FIS2017-85058-R). We thank Local Police of Granada city (Granada, Spain) and Dräger Iberia (Madrid, Spain) for lending us the breath analyzer. We also thank Trágora SCA for reviewing the English version of the manuscript. In this study, we assessed the influence of moderate alcohol intake on binocular vision, vergence system and simulated driving performance by analyzing the interactions between visual deterioration and driving variables. Thirty young healthy subjects were recruited. For the analysis, we measured: visual function (visual acuity and stereoacuity), phorias and fusional reserves. Also, we checked Sheard’s and Percival’s criteria at near and far. The accommodative convergence/accommodation (AC/A) ratio was calculated and vergence facility was also obtained at near. A driving simulator was used to assess driving performance under natural conditions and after alcohol consumption with a breath alcohol content of 0.40 mg/l. Alcohol intake significantly reduced binocular visual performance and vergence function, except for vertical phorias, horizontal phoria at near and Sheard’s and Percival’s criteria at near. Driving performance parameters also presented a statistically significant deterioration after alcohol consumption. A statistically significant correlation was found between the deterioration in overall visual function and overall driving performance, highlighting the influence of the visual deterioration on the driving performance. Moderate alcohol consumption impairs binocular visual and simulated driving performances, implying a greater safety hazard. In addition, deteriorations in binocular visual function and vergence correlated with simulated driving impairment, which indicates that the deterioration of binocular vision due to alcohol consumption affects driving, thus reducing road safety. 2021-06-11T07:57:04Z 2021-06-11T07:57:04Z 2021-04-26 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Martino, F., Castro-Torres, J.J., Casares-López, M. et al. Deterioration of binocular vision after alcohol intake influences driving performance. Sci Rep 11, 8904 (2021). [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88435-w] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/69119 10.1038/s41598-021-88435-w eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España Nature