Introducing a New Computer-based Test for the Clinical Evaluation of Color Discrimination
Accepted 19 July 2006. published online 01 September 2006.
Purpose
To evaluate the Portal color sort test (PCST), a new computer-based test of color vision, by comparing it with a series of clinical tests of color vision in normal and color deficient subjects.
Design
Prospective clinical laboratory study.
Methods
Fifty-nine subjects with normal trichromatic vision or with congenital color vision defects underwent a series of color vision tests that included the 15-plate Ishihara test, the D-15 Farnsworth-Munsell test (D-15), the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue test (FM 100-Hue), and the PCST under rigorous standardized conditions, as recommended by the respective manufacturers. The PCST generates a numerical discrimination score comparable to the FM 100-Hue.
Results
To test validity, discrimination scores generated by the PCST were compared with scores on the FM 100-Hue. The Spearman rank correlation between discrimination scores on the FM 100-Hue and the PCST was 0.8 (P < .001). Reliability was assessed by asking patients to retake the PCST at a later sitting. Patients retaking the PCST achieved similar scores on their second sitting as on the first. The correlation in the score between the two tests was 0.7 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.4-0.9, P < .001). Median (quartiles) time to complete the PCST was 3.1 minutes. This was faster than the FM 100-Hue time (P < .001), but slower than both the Ishihara and the D-15 (both P < .001).
Conclusions
This study suggests that the PCST, a test of color vision deficiency, can be used effectively and reliably as a tool for screening (comparable to the Ishihara plates and the D-15) and grading (comparable to the FM 100-Hue) color discrimination ability.
Cole Eye Institute, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio.
Inquiries to Elias I. Traboulsi, MD, Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic I32, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195
ABSTRACT