title: Measuring wearing times of glasses and ocular patches using a thermosensor device from orthodontics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Amblyopia is one of the most common visual disorders in children. The risk of severe visual impairment on the healthy eye is doubled in patients with amblyopia. If detected early enough, the chances of visual rehabilitation are good. Treatment consists of refractive correction and occlusion of the dominant eye. Patient compliance is an important factor and can be monitored using thermosensors. It was the goal of our study to give proof of the principle that the wearing times of glasses and patches can be measured using a comparatively small and commercially available microsensor.
  
  
  METHODS
  Agreement between wearing times protocols of ocular patching/refractive correction and temperature measurements of thermosensors attached to the patches or glasses of three individuals were analysed using the Bland-Altman method. It was also analysed whether blinded persons could distinguish between temperature curves of patches and glasses, or temperature curves of an incubator or while worn in a pocket.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The temperatures picked up by the microsensors indicate the beginning and the end wearing times of either glasses or ocular patches through steep temperature difference and a distinct temperature curve during measurements. Although blinded test persons were able to cleary distinguish between temperature profiles from incubator/pocket measurements compared to glasses/patching, glasses and patching curves could be discriminated correctly in only 50%. Differences between wearing time protocols and temperature measurements were within the limits of agreement as stated by the Bland-Altman plots.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The TheraMon(®) microsensor can reliably measure wearing times of glasses and ocular patches without making the wearer uncomfortable, although the data are not unquestionable, especially in higher surrounding temperatures. Further studies on a larger number of individuals with different wearing profiles are needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Eberhard-Karls University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, GermanyDepartment of Orthodontics, Eberhard-Karls University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, GermanyDepartment of Pediatric and Operative Dentistry, Periodontology and Endodontology, Eberhard-Karls University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, GermanyDepartment of Eberhard-Karls Clinical Epidemiology and Applied Biostatistics, Eberhard-Karls University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Januschowski
authors.forename: Till E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Bechtold
authors.forename: Timm C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Schott
authors.forename: Maren S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Huelber-Januschowski
authors.forename: Gunnar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Blumenstock
authors.forename: Karl-Ulrich
authors.initials: KU
authors.lastname: Bartz-Schmidt
authors.forename: Dorothea
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Besch
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schramm
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000550:Amblyopia / Q000628:therapy*; D001458:Bandages / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005139:Eyeglasses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory; D009970:Orthodontics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010349:Patient Compliance; D013817:Thermography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013697:Thermosensing; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: amblyopia; compliance; monitoring; strabism