Revised logMAR chart viable for testing pediatric patients, study finds
A compact reduced logMAR chart may be a clinically acceptable means of testing visual acuity in pediatric patients with amblyopia, according to initial study results.
D.A.H. Laidlaw and colleagues in Kent, England, developed a compact reduced logMAR chart as an alternative to the standard Snellen chart. They then took timed test and retest measurements using two versions of each chart design of 43 children with amblyopia.
No systemic bias between chart designs was found. Test-retest variability between the altered logMAR, standard logMAR and Snellen charts were similar. Median testing for the standard logMAR took 60 seconds; for the revised logMAR, 40 seconds; and 30 seconds for the Snellen test.
The revised logMAR equaled or approached that of the gold standard and was at least 50% better than that of Snellen. The enhanced sensitivity to change was at the cost of only a 10-second time penalty compared to Snellen, the authors wrote in the October issue of British Journal of Ophthalmology.