Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate color perception in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) assessed with a new digital color test and with pseudoisochromatic plates and explore the correlation with optical coherence tomography (OCT) parameters.
Methods :
Twenty-nine patients (n=29 eyes) with DME and mean age of 70.2 years (SD=6.8) were retrospectively included. Color vision was evaluated in all subjects using the H-R-R, the Ishihara Test (38 plates) and the digital color test. The total number of correct plates was measured for each test and assessed in correlation with OCT parameters: Central Macular Thickness (CMT), Volume Cube (VC) and Total Average Thickness (TAC). The new color test records the level of brightness needed to detect color targets of red, green and blue hues and results were also correlated with these OCT parameters. Spearman correlation coefficient was computed for estimating correlations among CMT values and results of the color tests.
Results :
The mean visual acuity was 0.60 (SD 0.30) logMAR and the mean CMT, VC and TAC values were 429.5 μm (SD 129.9), 11.9 mm3 (SD 3) and 330.1 μm (SD 82.9), respectively. All participants demonstrated color vision defects in all color tests; in the Ishihara (Mdn=3.0 plates, IQR: 1.0-20.0), in the H-R-R (Mdn=2.0 plates, IQR: 0.0-4.8). Regarding the new digital color test, increased needs for brightness in red (Mdn=28.0%, IQR: 24.0-31.0), green (Mdn=20.0%, IQR: 15.5-25.0) and blue (Mdn=26.0%, IQR: 21.5-31.0) colored targets were also detected. The CMT values were significantly (p<0.05) correlated with the brightness values in the blue targets. Specifically, more brightness was required for the detection of the blue targets in individuals with increased values of CMT.
Conclusions :
Color vision was found to be affected in patients with DME and should be evaluated as a useful part of a comprehensive ophthalmological examination. Furthermore, this study presents preliminary evidence of the efficacy of a new digital color test to detect deficits in patients with diabetic macular edema.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.