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Purpose: To evaluate the influence of aging on color vision in a large normal population using Standard Pseudoisochromatic Plates part-3 (SPP-3), which is a pseudoisochromatic plate test used to detect congenital or acquired color vision deficiency (CVD). Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed SPP-3 test results of 23,565 normal eyes of 23,565 subjects (women: 12,035; men: 11,530), who were examined between July 1993 and December 2010. The subjects had a mean age of 46.9 ± 18.5 years, ranging from 5 to 89 years, and they were evaluated following categorization into age groups with five-year increments. Subjects whose best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 20/20 or better, with no history of ocular diseases, were included. Subjects with congenital CVD were excluded. Results: We found a negative correlation between age and the total number of correct answers in SPP-3 (Spearman's correlation coefficient, r = −0.5743; p <.0001). The total number of correct answers was the highest in subjects aged 10–14, 15–19, and 20–24 years (17.2 ± 0.9 [mean ±SD]). The total number of correct answers of these groups had significant differences from those in the 5–9 years age group and those aged >30 years (Dunn's post-hoc test: p <.0001). Among the 19 detection numerals in SPP-3, we found that the correct answer rates of six numerals decreased with aging, and the colors of the numerals and their backgrounds all located parallel to the tritanopic confusion line. Conclusions: Using SPP-3, we confirmed that aging influenced color vision, even in normal eyes with a good BCVA (20/20 or better). The total number of correct answers of SPP-3 was the highest in subjects aged 10–24 years and had already begun to decline in those in their 30s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the color visual acuity (CVA) of young healthy subjects using colored Landolt rings and the effect of background luminance level on the CVA. Materials and methods: We measured the CVA of 20 young healthy subjects (age: 23.8 ± 3.8 years) with different colors using a computer and a liquid crystal display, with 15 Landolt ring colors (30 cd/m2) with a background luminance of 30 cd/m2, and then 100 cd/m2. We then used different background luminance levels (15–50 cd/m2) using four Landolt ring colors (red, green–yellow, green, and blue–green) to evaluate the effect of the background luminance level on CVA. Results: The CVA significantly differed among the colors with a background luminance of 30 cd/m2 (p < 0.0001). Green–yellow and blue–purple had poor CVA (high LogMAR value; 0.808 ± 0.107 and 0.633 ± 0.150, respectively) with a background luminance of 30 cd/m2 (same luminance as the Landolt rings). There were no significant differences in the CVAs among the colors with a background luminance of 100 cd/m2 (p = 0.5999). There were no significant difference in the CVA between background luminance 30 cd/m2 and other luminance level ranging from 28 to 32 cd/m2 for colors of red, green–yellow, green, and blue–green. Conclusions: The results reveal that the background luminance of Landolt rings affects the CVA. Distinctive CVAs for each color are measured by equalizing the luminance between the Landolt ring and the background. We consider that the poor CVAs of these colors reflect the visual function of S-cone, because GY and BP are included in the confusion locus of tritan axis on the chromaticity diagram. We believe that CVA assessment may be useful for individuals who have known or suspected ocular dysfunction or color vision deficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]