Reliability of standardized visual field testing in patients under 18 years of age

Purpose To investigate the effect of age on the reliability of standardized, automated, visual field testing in the pédiatrie age group. Methods: 20 healthy children with normal visual acuity, aged 6-18 yrs were studied. Three healthy adults were studied as controls. The children were stratified into groups based on age as follows: I. 6-8 yrs (n=5), II. 9-11 yrs (n=5), III. 12-15 yrs (n=5), IV. 16-18 yrs (n=5). Each subject underwent threshold perimetric testing for the right eye using a Humphrey Automated Visual Field Analyzer (Fast Pac program). The average rate of fixation losses, false positive and false negative responses, and mean deviation were compared by group to determine the effect of age on testing reliability. These values were also compared to the values in the control group. Results: There is a trend toward increasing test reliability with increasing age in all reliability parameters studied. Performance of group IV subjects approximated that of adult controls. Significant intragroup variability in performance reliability was apparent, particularly for the younger age groups. Conclusions: Children aged 611 yrs demonstrated generally poor reliability on initial Humphrey Automated Visual Field Analyzer testing with the Fast Pac program. Subjects aged 16-18 yrs showed generally high levels of reliability, similar to adult controls. Automated threshold visual field testing may be successfully performed in the pédiatrie age group, but a high level of interindividual variability in reliability should be expected in children under age 12 yrs Grant support by Knights Templar Educational Foundation of Georgia None.