Contrast Sensitivity and Low-Contrast Visual Acuity in Children With Low Vision.

Cohort studyInvestigative ophthalmology & visual science· Feb 2026

Contrast Sensitivity and Low-Contrast Visual Acuity in Children With Low Vision.

Deepak Kumar Bagga, Anantha A G Padmanabhan, Deiva Jayaraman … Beula Christy

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Community Eye HealthCohort studyClinical practiceQ1IF 4.2

Contrast sensitivity tests vary widely on repeat testing in children with low vision.

Contrast Sensitivity and Low-Contrast Visual Acuity in Children With Low Vision.

Deepak Kumar Bagga … Beula Christy

Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · Feb 2026 · Q1 in Ophthalmology

Purpose

To investigate distance and near contrast sensitivity (contrast sensitivity), as well as low-contrast visual acuities (low-contrast visual acuities) at 5% and 2.5% contrasts across various eye diseases causing low vision, in children aged 5 to <16 years, and to study the repeatability of these measures.

Methods

In total, 782 children (age, mean ± SD, 10.23 ± 2.75 years) with low vision, visual acuity between 0.3 and 1.3 logMAR, or visual field with mean deviation worse than 12 dB were recruited.

n = 782 children

Results

0.45

logCS

repeat contrast tests often shifted this much, even without real change

n = 782 children

More results

Repeated measures for contrast sensitivity and low-contrast visual acuities exhibited a large variation (limits of agreement: distance contrast sensitivity = 0.44 logCS, near contrast sensitivity = 0.54 logCS, low-contrast visual acuities 5% = 0.38 logMAR, low-contrast visual acuities 2.5% = 0.42 logMAR) in children with low vision.

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

Contrast sensitivity and low-contrast visual acuities impairments vary across eye diseases in children.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

A difference of more than 0.45 logCS (three triplets) in contrast sensitivity or 0.4 logMAR (four lines) in low-contrast visual acuities during follow-up is considered clinically meaningful for children with low vision due to high test-retest variability.

Contrast Sensitivity and Low-Contrast Visual Acuity in Children With Low Vision.

Contrast Sensitivity and Low-Contrast Visual Acuity in Children With Low Vision.

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