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Observational Study
. 2018 Aug;32(8):1392-1400.
doi: 10.1038/s41433-018-0099-y. Epub 2018 May 14.

Assessment of contrast sensitivity by Spaeth Richman Contrast Sensitivity Test and Pelli Robson Chart Test in patients with varying severity of glaucoma

Sahil Thakur  1 , Parul Ichhpujani  2 , Suresh Kumar  1 , Ravneet Kaur  1 , Sunandan Sood  1
Affiliations
Observational Study

Assessment of contrast sensitivity by Spaeth Richman Contrast Sensitivity Test and Pelli Robson Chart Test in patients with varying severity of glaucoma

Sahil Thakur et al. Eye (Lond). 2018 Aug.

Abstract

Purpose: This study was designed to assess the efficacy, reliability and repeatability of SPARCS (Spaeth Richman Contrast Sensitivity Test) as compared to the conventional Pelli Robson Chart Test for the assessment of contrast sensitivity in patients with glaucoma.

Materials and methods: We evaluated 135 eyes of 135 patients who were age and sex matched into three groups (controls, disc suspects and glaucoma) of 45 patients each. The glaucoma subgroup was further divided into subgroups of mild, moderate and severe based on the visual field damage.

Results: There was a strong positive correlation between Pelli Robson scores and SPARCS scores (S = 0.807, P < 0.001). Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for Pelli Robson Test was 0.952 and 0.988 for SPARCS. The coefficient of repeatability (COR) for mean SPARCS was 5.65%, while COR of Pelli Robson Test was 12.44%. SPARCS was found to have better repeatability than Pelli Robson Test based on COR values. Pelli Robson score had a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 65.6% for detecting glaucoma patients as compared to 84.4% and 70%, respectively, for SPARCS scores.

Conclusion: SPARCS is a better alternative to conventional Pelli Robson Chart Test for assessment of contrast sensitivity in patients with glaucoma. Being independent of the effects of literacy and educational status, it offers a universal way to measure contrast sensitivity. It can also be reliably used in patients with varying severity of glaucoma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
SPARCS Test Screen: a Initial patient information screen with eye selection check-box. b Testing dimensions for the SPARCS test. c Grating display in the upper right quadrant. d Result screen
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Box and Whisker Plots: a SPARCS mean scores for the three groups. b Pelli Robson scores for the groups. c SPARCS mean scores for the glaucoma severity subgroups. d Pelli Robson mean scores for the glaucoma subgroups
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
a ROC curve for mean Pelli Robson score (AUC: 0.757, P < 0.001). b ROC curve for mean SPARCS score (AUC: 0.894, P < 0.001)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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