5164.0: Wednesday, November 15, 2000 - 12:30 PM

Abstract #13049

A new portable autorefractor for vision screening and its reproducibility in adults

John A. Shoemaker, Prevent Blindness America, 500 East Remington Road, Schaumburg, IL 60173, 847-843-2020, JShoemaker@PreventBlindness.org

The Welch Allyn SureSight is a new portable autorefractor marketed for screening use. Agreement between two repeated refractive measurements was assessed in adult subjects under ideal testing conditions. Autorefraction was attempted in 21 adults under dim lighting in a quiet room free of distractions according to the procedure recommended by the manufacturer. Subjects had been tested previously with the SureSight and were highly cooperative. The procedure was completed successfully on the first attempt in all but one subject. Two subjects were found to have refractive errors outside the measurement range of the instrument and were excluded from analysis. The refractive error measurements in the remaining 38 eyes ranged from +2.6 to –4.5 diopters of sphere (mean=-0.71; SD=1.55) and 0.1 to 2.2 diopters of cylinder (mean=0.59; SD=0.41). Differences between the repeated measures ranged from 0.0 to 0.7 diopters of sphere (mean=0.18; SD=0.18) and from 0.0 to 0.5 diopters of cylinder (mean=0.09; SD=0.11). The correlation coefficients between the repeated measures were 0.99 for sphere and 0.94 for cylinder. Under ideal conditions with cooperative adult subjects, the SureSight produces highly repeatable measures. It remains to be seen if such repeatability can be achieved under less ideal circumstances in more realistic screening conditions, although the present results suggest the instrument may be fundamentally reliable. Validity of the refractive measurements also remains to be assessed.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to: 1. Describe the function of the SureSight autorefractor. 2. Discuss the potential sources of variation in repeated measurements from the autorefractor. 3. Describe the repeatability of the autorefractor's measurements under ideal conditions

Keywords: Vision Care, Screening Instruments

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Welch Allyn, Inc
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA