Screening of diabetics who read incorrectly colour-dependent glucose test-strips

Forty-eight diabetic patients (82 eyes) were examined with four different colour vision tests and one blood glucose strip-test. The ages of the patients varied from 23 to 65 years (mean 44.3 years +/- 11.4, SD), the duration of diabetes from 13 to 41 years (mean 25.8 +/- 6.2), and the visual acuities from 0.2 to 1.0 (mean 0.8 +/- 0.2). Of the eyes, 77 had had photocoagulation, 25 had small peripheral lens opacities, and 55 had slight background retinopathy. The colour vision tests were: the Standard Pseudoisochromatic Plates part 2 (SPP2), the Lanthony Tritan Album, the Farnsworth Panel D 15 test and the box III of the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue (FM 100) test. The blood glucose test was Haemo-Glukotest 1-44. Of the 82 eyes, 38 incorrectly saw Haemo-Glukotest strips. The SPP2 test found 89% of the eyes, the Tritan Album 55%, the Panel D 15 71%, and the box III of the FM 100 test 76%. The strips were correctly interpreted in 44 of the eyes. However, 36% of them failed the SPP2, 16% the Tritan Album, 11% the Panel D 15 test and 18% the box III of the FM 100 test. The Panel D 15 test and the box III of the FM 100 test would be useful in screening those diabetics who cannot correctly interpret the colour-dependent glucose test-strips and would need a blood sugar meter for their blood glucose level testing.