Correlation of grating acuity with letter recognition acuity in children with albinism.

PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to determine whether grating acuity in early childhood can be used as a predictor of letter recognition acuity in patients with albinism.

METHODS

In this retrospective study, we compared the binocular grating acuities of children with albinism (30 at age 1, 29 at age 2, and 19 at age 3) to their letter recognition acuity at age 4-6 years.

RESULTS

Mean binocular grating acuity was 2.0, 1.9, and 1.5 octaves below age matched norms at ages 1, 2, and 3 years, respectively (P<0.001 at all ages). Mean grating acuity at ages 1, 2, and 3 correlated moderately (r=0.458, 0.502, and 0.471, respectively; all with P<0.05) with mean binocular letter recognition acuity of the same children at ages 4-6. A subgroup analysis of 9 patients followed longitudinally showed strong correlation of binocular grating acuity at ages 1 and 2 with letter acuity (r=0.745, P=0.021; r=0.930, P<0.001, respectively) and moderate correlation at age 3 (r=0.685, P=0.042). In the larger group and the longitudinal subgroup, mean binocular grating acuity at ages 1 and 2 was worse than mean binocular letter recognition acuity at age 4-6 (paired-samples t-test, P<0.001). Mean binocular grating acuity at age 3 in both groups was not significantly different than mean binocular letter recognition acuity at age 4-6 (paired-samples t-test, P=0.790, 0.215, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Parents should be informed that vision measured as grating acuity at age 3 provides an estimate of future letter recognition acuity in children with albinism.