Original Articles December 01, 2012 December 01, 2012

Comparison between visual acuity and photoscreening used like visual screening methods for scholar aged children

DOI: 10.1590/S0034-72802012000600003

PURPOSE: To evaluate the sensitivity of the photoscreener equipment to detect ocular changes in informative children comparing with the data obtained by the E Snellen´s table. METHODS: We evaluated 500 children between 5 and 12 years old, from a school of Botucatu city, São Paulo state. The children were submitted to a visual acuity test using the Snellen´s E Table and were photographed with the photoscreener^TM system model MTI-PS100, following the photos’ analyze. RESULTS: There were negative agreement (children with a good visual acuity and a negative test with the Photoscreener) in 81.0%; positive agreement (children without a good visual acuity and a positive test) in 7.6% and there was no agreement of the results in 11.0% (9) of the cases. CONCLUSION: The comparative analysis between the visual acuity test using the Snellen’s E table and the photoscreener to detect visual problems showed high agreement. However, the authors suggest that the visual screening should be made by using the visual acuity Tables when the children examined are in informer age, because of the costs of the equipment.