Comparison between ophthalmologists and community health workers in screening of shallow anterior chamber with oblique flashlight test.
OBJECTIVE
To study the agreement between ophthalmologists and community health workers in detecting shallow anterior chamber with oblique flashlight test.


METHODS
Totally 425 subjects were given an eye examination in a community health center. The anterior chamber depth of each subject was examined by one ophthalmologist and two trained community health workers (one nurse and one non-professional health worker) using oblique flashlight test. Inter-observer agreement was determined using the weighted kappa statistic.


RESULTS
Among the enrolled subjects, 148 (35%) were male and 277 (65%) were female. Good agreement was noted in all the three observers. The comparison between the ophthalmologist and the nurse showed a kappa statistic of 0.42 for both eyes (P < 0.001). The kappa statistic was 0.54 and 0.52 for right and left eyes respectively between the ophthalmologist and the non-professional health worker (P<0.001). As for agreement between the nurse and the non-professional health, worker, the kappa statistic was 0.49 and 0.38 for right and left eyes, respectively (P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The oblique flashlight test may be used as an applicable tool by trained community health workers for screening of shallow anterior chamber and play a role in blindness prevention in community.
Nuriyah
Yusoh
Y
Department of Ophthalmology, Sekwa Eye Hospital, Beijing 100088, China.
Ren
Xue-Tao
XT
Jiang
Li
L
Liu
Xi-Pu
XP
Zou
Yan-Hong
YH
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000867:Anterior Chamber / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology; D003150:Community Health Workers; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D015812:Glaucoma, Angle-Closure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009885:Ophthalmology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D000078329:Workforce; D055815:Young Adult