Comparison of different methods for assessing color vision in schoolchildren

Background. Assessing color vision in children requires a tailored approach: the tests used should be easy to understand, engaging, and quick to administer. The development of effective and practical methods for evaluating color vision in children remains an important objective in contemporary ophthalmology. Purpose: To compare the effectiveness of different methods for assessing color vision in schoolchildren. Materials and methods. A total of 532 schoolchildren (261 boys and 271 girls) with different refractive status were examined. In addition to a standard ophthalmic examination, all children underwent color vision testing using conventional methods (Rabkin pseudoisochromatic plates and the Farnsworth – Munsell Dichotomous D15 test) as well as newly developed tests (a new pseudoisochromatic plate test and a new D30 arrangement test). Results. Among boys, the prevalence of color vision deficiency was 8.1 % with the Rabkin plates, 7.7 % with both the D15 test and the new pseudoisochromatic plate test, and 9.2 % with the new D30 arrangement test. Among girls, the prevalence was 1.1 % according to all tests used in the study. The newly developed tests demonstrated adequate performance in detecting color vision deficiency. For the new pseudoisochromatic plate test, sensitivity ranged from 85.0 % to 88.9 % and specificity from 92.9 % to 99.2 % in children with different refractive status. It also had the shortest administration time across all groups. For the new D30 arrangement test, sensitivity ranged from 80.0 % to 90.9 % and specificity from 96.3 % to 99.6 %. In all groups, its administration time was shorter than that of the conventional tests. Conclusion. The findings demonstrate that the new tests provide high sensitivity and specificity while requiring less time to administer, making them advantageous for large-scale outpatient screening.

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