Data concerning colour vision deficiencies amongst 29,985 young Greeks

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Genetics
• Public Health

Background:

• Color vision deficiency (CVD) affects a significant portion of the population.
• Understanding the prevalence of CVD in specific demographics is crucial for occupational health and genetic counseling.
• Previous studies have indicated sex-based differences in CVD prevalence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of various types of color vision deficiencies in a large cohort of young Greek employees.
• To compare the prevalence rates between male and female participants.
• To provide updated epidemiological data on color vision status in the Greek workforce.

Main Methods:

• Screening of 29,985 young Greek employees using Ishihara plates.
• Further detailed testing, including anomaloscope examination, for individuals with suspected color vision defects.
• Data collection and statistical analysis of prevalence rates for different types of color vision deficiencies (protanopia, deuteranopia, protanomaly, deuteranomaly, monochromatic vision).

Main Results:

• A total of 1,678 males (7.95%) exhibited color vision disturbances, including protanopes, deuteranopes, protanomalous, deuteranomalous, and monochromatic vision.
• In contrast, only 37 females (0.42%) showed detectable color vision disturbances, with a significantly lower prevalence of protanopia, deuteranopia, protanomaly, and deuteranomaly.
• No cases of monochromatic vision were detected in the female cohort.

Conclusions:

• The prevalence of color vision deficiency is substantially higher in young Greek males compared to females.
• The findings highlight the importance of sex-specific considerations in screening programs and occupational health assessments for color vision.
• This study contributes valuable epidemiological data to the existing literature on color vision genetics and public health.