Distance and near visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and visual fields of 10-year-old children

To measure monocular distance visual acuity, near visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and visual field extent in full-term, 10-year-old children tested according to the protocol used to test 10-year-old preterm children in the Cryotherapy for Retinopathy of Prematurity study.

Subjects were 106 healthy, full-term children, 9.8 to 10.9 years of age, who had no ocular abnormalities other than ametropia. All were tested monocularly using Early Treatment and Diabetic Retinopathy Study distance and near visual acuity charts and Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity charts, with refractive error corrected according to Cryotherapy for Retinopathy of Prematurity study criteria. Goldmann perimetry was tested without correction using the V-4-e and III-4-e stimuli along 8 meridia. A standard pediatric eye examination was performed on each subject.

Mean (SD) distance visual acuity was 20/19.6 OD (0.082 log unit [lu]) and mean near visual acuity was 20/19.5 OD (0.100 lu). Mean (SD) contrast sensitivity was 1.69 OD (0.12 lu), with a mean (SD) of 36.4 (2.2) letters read. Visual field extent was larger for the V-4-e stimulus than for the III-4-e stimulus.

The results provide the first monocular normative data from a large sample of 10-year-old children tested with Early Treatment and Diabetic Retinopathy Study distance and near visual acuity charts and the Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity charts, and add to the literature on Goldmann perimetry in children.