Diagnostic Accuracy of a Retinal Birefringence Scanning Device Compared With a Traditional Autorefraction Device.
Traditional autorefraction device shows 41% higher sensitivity for detecting refractive error.
Diagnostic Accuracy of a Retinal Birefringence Scanning Device Compared With a Traditional Autorefraction Device.
To compare the diagnostic performance of 2 photoscreening devices, the Spot Vision Screener (Welch Allyn), hereafter referred to as a traditional autorefraction device, and the Blinq vision scanner (Rebion), hereafter referred to as a retinal birefringence scanner, for detecting amblyopia, strabismus, or visually significant refractive error (visually significant refractive error).
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a prospective, randomized, masked, diagnostic accuracy cohort study.
Of 195 enrolled participants (median [IQR] age, 50 [25-66] months), 139 (mean [SD] age, 49.7 [35.6] months; 75 female [54.0%]) completed both photoscreening tests.
The prevalence of amblyopia, strabismus, and visually significant refractive error was 15.1%, 32.4%, and 30.1%, respectively.
No differences in specificity were identified.
Across all vision disorders, the AUROC for the retinal birefringence scanner was lower than that for the traditional autorefraction device, particularly for amblyopia (-0.13; 95% CI, -0.23 to -0.03; P = .01).
In this single-site diagnostic accuracy study, the traditional autorefraction device demonstrated greater overall diagnostic sensitivity than the retinal birefringence scanner for detecting amblyopia and refractive errors, with no difference in specificity for all conditions.
These findings suggest that the traditional autorefraction device may be more reliable for comprehensive pediatric vision screening.