Evaluation of the Spot Vision Screener in comparison with the orthoptic examination in visual screening in 3-5 year-old schoolchildren

Purpose To evaluate the Spot Vision Screener (SVS) compared with the orthoptic examination for detection of amblyopia risk factors in preschools. Methods This prospective study included children with a visual screening organized by the department of le (PMI) in Cote dOr (Burgundy, France), between June 2017 and April 2018. All children were evaluated with the SVS followed by a clinical orthoptic examination. Results with the SVS were compared with those obtained by clinical orthoptic examination. Results A total of 1236 subjects were included in the study from 100 preschools. The mean age of the children was 3.6 +/- 0.7 years, and 627 were female (50.7%). The orthoptic examination detected 308 (24.9%) children with subnormal visual acuity for age in one eye or both. In children with a history of prematurity, the orthoptic examination was more frequently abnormal (P = 0.002), which was not seen with the SVS (P = 0.050). The SVS screened 20 (1.6%) children with strabismus, while 40 (3.2%) were detected by orthoptic examination. At the end of the screening, the SVS detected 182 (14.7%) suspect patients while 311 (25.1%) suspect patients were detected after the orthoptic examination. Comparing SVS with orthoptic examination, agreement was fair (kappa = 0.4). Conclusion The SVS can be a useful device for visual screening, but agreement with the orthoptic examination was only fair. The Spot vision screener should be used in conjunction with a clinical orthoptic examination. (C) 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.