Normal test scores in the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test

One hundred and sixty persons aged from 10 to 69 years (106 women, 54 men) with healthy eyes were studied with the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue (FM100) test. The mean of the results in the total scores and in the individual box scores in the right and left eye were calculated. The total score was also separately calculated in women and men. The test was administered under the illumination of Macbeth Easel lamp, 1000 lux, and the right eye was tested first. The results were calculated in six different age groups, 10-19 years, 20-29 years, etc. The mean of the total scores in the right eye varied from 7.44+/-2.46 (SD) to 10.07+/-2.03 in different age groups and in the left eye from 7.56+/-2.36 to 10.16+/-2.68. The scores changed significantly with the age: the correlation between the age and the test scores by linear regression gave significant results, in the right eye (R = 0.308, P = 0.0001), and in the left eye (R = 0.246, P = 0.0021). The present study with the normal error scores in the FM100 test and its individual boxes in persons aged 10-69 years gives clinicians working with colour vision defects a possibility to estimate the normality or abnormality of the results in their patients.