[Repeatability of ETDRS visual acuity measurement in children].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate repeatability of the ETDRS log MAR visual acuity measurement in children and the relative influence factors.


METHODS
The children (n = 348) with visual acuity less than 0.5 (equal to 0.3 log unit) in either eye, or one tenth in children with normal visual acuity were chosen to do repeatable uncorrected VA measurement with Bland-Altman analysis and Kappa analysis using ETDRS acuity chart.


RESULTS
The mean difference of visual acuity was 0.004 log +/- 0.07. There was a significant repeatability (k = 0.71) between two visual acuity examination. There were significant consistent results both on male and female patients (P = 0.845). A significant relationship was found between age and VA repeatability (P = 0.019). The VA repeatability could also be influenced by refractive error (P = 0.000). The acuity measurement in children with emmetropia (k = 0.82) had a higher repeatability than in the children with myopia (k = 0.66).


CONCLUSIONS
The ETDRS visual acuity chart can provide a repeatable measure of visual acuity in children. It is recommended for clinic examination of children.
Lin
Zhi
Z
State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, San Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China.
Wu
Changfan
C
Chen
Xiang
X
He
Mingguang
M
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009216:Myopia / Q000175:diagnosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014787:Vision Tests / Q000379:methods*; D014792:Visual Acuity