Title: The role of HOTV visual acuity chart in estimating vision among illiterate adults in comparison with Snellen’s E chart

Authors: Valiyaveettil Babitha, Dr Prasannakumary. C

 DOI:  https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v5i8.17

Abstract

Comparative studies of different visual acuity charts among illiterate adults are lacking.

Aim and objectives -This study tries to ascertain the role of HOTV chart in assessing vision among illiterate adults as compared with conventional illiterate E Chart.

Design – Descriptive cross sectional study

Methods – Phakic illiterate adults with an uncorrected visual acuity better than or equal to 6/18 on Snellens chart were included. The visual acuity of each individual was tested with both E chart and HOTV chart by separate observers. These were compared.

Results - The study group included 48 adult illiterate patients. 58.33% (n=28) were females. The mean age of this group was 60.23 with SD of ±9.518. Among 40 eyes, HOTV overestimated the vision. An improvement of one line was observed in 82.5% (n=33). Out of the nine eyes which showed underestimation of vision on HOTV test, 88.9% (n=8) showed a worsening of one line. The difference in the visual acuity was more evident among those with vision less than 6/9 (p= 0.000).

Conclusion – HOTV may be an easy and better choice for estimating potential vision among illiterate adults without ocular co morbidities.

Keywords – Snellen’s visual acuity, illiterate E chart, HOTV chart, Recognition acuity.

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Corresponding Author

Valiyaveettil Babitha