COMPARING THE VALIDITY OF AN ONLINE ISHIHARA TEST TO THE TRADITIONAL ISHIHARA HANDBOOK

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: There's an increased prevalence of online colour vision tests available to the internet user due to the ease of access. However, there's limited work done to prove their reliability as tools for diagnosis of colour vision deficiencies. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was To determine the validity of the online Ishihara test in being able to distinguish colour normal patients from those with colour deficiency. MATERIALS AND METHOD:A cross-sectional study design was employed in this study in the Optometry teaching clinics of the Ugbowo and Ekenhuan campuses of the university of Benin. One hundred and twenty participants (N=120), between the ages of 16 and 30 years who visited the University of Benin's Eye Clinic between June and August 2023, took part in this study. This study was conducted using a Traditional Ishihara Booklet (38 plates) and a Colblindor online Ishihara test (38 plates). Both tests were carried out on normal sighted University participants under standardised conditions, and responses were captured on Ishihara recording sheets. Analysis of the data was done using the Statistical package of Social sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 RESULT: 42.5% of the participants identified as male and 57.5% identified as female with a mean age of 21 years ±3.09 years. 3.9% of men (N=2) were colour deficient, precipitating a prevalence of 1.7% of colour deficiency for the sampled population. When the results of both testing methods were compared, 100% sensitivity and specificity for both tests were identified. The online test proved to be limited in its ability to identify the severity or type of deficiency though it could correctly distinguish colour deficient participants from colour normal participants. CONCLUSION: This research serves as an indispensable tool, proving the reliability of the online Ishihara test (Colblindor online Ishihara 38 Plate test) as an alternative for the screening of colour vision deficiencies. The consequential findings unearthed within this research create an awareness around the extent to the validity of this test, as well as adding to the limited knowledge available about online colour vision testing.