Monocular reading performance measured by MNREAD-P acuity chart in normo-readers schoolchildren

This study aimed to determine and establish values for reading performance in normo-readers schoolchildren. Literate students aged 8 to 18 years old without visual impairments were recruited. The MNREAD-P chart was used to assess monocular reading acuity (RA in logMAR), critical print size (CPS in logMAR), and maximum reading speed (MRS in words per minute - wpm). Participants were grouped into three education levels: Elementary School I (3rd to 5th grade), Elementary School II (6 to 9th), and High School (10 to 12th). Lower and upper normal limits were determined using a 95% confidence interval around the mean. The association of RA, MRS, and CPS with sex, heterophoria, and education level was analyzed with a significance level of p ≤ 0.05. The final sample included 184 eyes from 92 participants (65% female) with a mean age of 12.8 ± 2.9 years. The normative lower limits were: (a) RA of 0.1 logMAR for Elementary I and II and 0.0 logMAR for High School; (b) CPS of 0.3 logMAR for all education levels; (c) MSR of 116 wpm for Elementary I, 159 wpm for Elementary II and 192 wpm for High School. Higher education level was significantly associated with improvement in RA (p = 0.017) and MRS (p < 0.001).