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Deficient colour vision and interpretation of histopathology slides: cross sectional study
C J Poole1, D J Hill, J L Christie
1Department of Occupational Health, Dudley Priority Health NHS Trust, Central Clinic.
Objective:
To determine whether histopathologists with deficient colour vision make more errors in slide interpretation than those with normal colour vision.
Design:
Examination of projected transparencies of histopathological slides under standardised conditions by subjects whose colour discriminating ability was accurately assessed.
Setting:
Departments of histopathology in 45 hospitals in the United Kingdom.
Subjects:
270 male histopathologists and medical laboratory scientific officers.
Main Outcome Measures:
Number of slides correctly identified by subjects whose colour vision was measured on the Ishihara, City University, and Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue tests.
Results:
Mean (SD) scores (out of 10) for doctors with colour deficient vision were 9.4 (0.7) v 9.9 (0.4) for controls (P < 0.01) and 7.5 (1.6) v 9.4 (0.7) for scientific officers (P < 0.001). When subjects with colour deficient vision were categorised into severe, moderate, or mild, there was a significant trend towards those with severe deficiency making more mistakes (P < 0.001).
Conclusions:
Histopathologists and medical laboratory scientific officers should have their colour vision tested; if they are found to have a severe protan or deutan deficiency, they should be advised to adopt a safe system of working.