Are ethnic differences in the F-M 100 scores related to macular pigmentation?

Abstract

Background: It is known that the macular pigment can significantly affect colour matching and other aspects of colour vision tests. The difference in macular pigmentation between Asians and Caucasians may lead to different colour discrimination.

Methods: This study compared chromatic discrimination between Asians and Caucasians using the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue test. Fifty Asians who were ethnically Chinese and 50 Caucasians served as subjects, ranging in age from 30 to 59 years.

Results: The partial blue-yellow square root error score of the Asian subjects was significantly higher than that of the Caucasian subjects (p = 0.022) and the difference appeared to increase with age.

Discussion: There was a difference in the F-M 100 scores between the two groups. The difference was confined in the blue-yellow region, producing a tritan-like bias for the Asian group in the test.