Influence of gender, anxiety and depression symptoms, and use of oral contraceptive in color perception.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The color is a psychophysical phenomenon, and much has been studied about its physical components. However, the psychological part is poorly investigated, except for the difference between genders in the literature shows that more men are color deficient than women. Dental students are trained to better understand the differences in color, so we became interested in studying whether psychological variables such as anxiety and depression and use of hormonal contraceptives may interfere with this ability. The aim of this in vitro study was to investigate if factors, such as, hormonal contraceptive use, depressive symptoms, anxiety and quality of life, influence on the ability of color discrimination of dental school students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-one subjects participated and the following instruments apply (1) test that consists in the observation of a set of 25 labels (Pantones) with values of known colors, (2) scales of depression, anxiety, and quality of life assessments, and (3) Ishihara test. RESULTS: No difference was observed between genders as color perception (p = 0.868). Symptoms of anxiety and depression were significantly more frequent in the female population that showed worse quality of life (p < 0.000) but did not interfere with color perception. Women using hormonal contraceptives had lower color perception than men (p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: No difference between the genders in the perception of colors was observed, contrary to common sense that women discriminate more colors than men, but women using hormonal contraceptives showed more difficulty in color perception. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The ability to understand and distinguish color differences is extremely important in clinical dentistry. There could be differences in color perception between men and women that would influence clinical performance.