Comparison of Applicability of Different Visual Acuity Charts for Pediatric Outpatient Visual Tests

摘要

Purpose: To evaluate the applicability of different visual acu-ity charts for outpatient pediatric visual tests. Methods: Fifty-three children (53 eyes) aged 4-8 years un-dergoing visual acuity tests as outpatients were randomly se-lected for this study. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of the eye with better visual acuity was measured for each child using the digital LogMAR visual chart,.the ETDRS vi-sual chart,.and a new standard logarithm visual chart;.all measurements were repeated twice and the BCVA was record-ed. Paired comparisons were made between the LogMAR vi-sual acuity chart and ETDRS chart measurements or between the ETDRS chart and logarithm visual acuity chart measure-ments for statistical analysis of the differences in measurement of visual acuity..The results of different measurements by the same chart were compared to evaluate the consistency of the measurement results..Bland-Altman analysis was employed to evaluate the most suitable chart for outpatient measurement of visual acuity in children. Results:.Bland-Altman analysis revealed that the mean visual acuity measured was. (0.447 ±0.017 LogMAR).by the digital LogMAR chart,.(0.301±0.024 LogMAR).by the standard log-arithm visual acuity chart, and (0.309 ±0.018 LogMAR) by the ETDRS visual acuity chart. The BCVA was significantly lower when measured by the LogMAR visual acuity chart than by the ETDRS chart (P<0.01). The BCVA was slightly higher when measured by the logarithm visual acuity chart than by the ETDRS chart, but the difference was not statistically sig nificant(P>0.05)..The Bland-Altman plot showed that the high-est consistency was obtained with the digital LogMAR chart, with a difference between two repeated measurements of 0.068 LogMAR,.compared to 0.090 and 0.072 LogMAR for the logarithm and ETDRS visual acuity charts, respectively. Conclusion: All three types of visual acuity charts are appli-cable for outpatient measurement of pediatric visual acuity. The ETDRS and logarithm visual acuity charts have a higher consistency, but the LogMAR visual acuity chart shows better reproducibility..Consequently,.it is difficult to identify and distinguish which acuity chart is most suitable for cooperative children.