Teleophthalmology: Evaluation of Phone-based Visual Acuity in a Pediatric Population

Purpose With the recent rise of teleophthalmology due to coronavirus disease, we are in need of accurate and reliable methods of checking visual acuity remotely. We compare the visual acuity as measured by the GoCheck Kids application, HOTV with the amblyopia treatment study (ATS), and our clinic protocol. Design This is a prospective, comparison of visual acuity assessment methods. Methods Established patients (aged 3-18) in the practice of a single pediatric ophthalmologist were eligible. Visual acuity was measured by: 1) GoCheck Kids mobile application (by patient’s family member), 2) HOTV-ATS (by study personnel), and 3) regular clinic protocol (by ophthalmic technician). To assess agreement between measures of acuity, intraclass correlations with 95% confidence intervals were computed. Results Fifty-three children participated. The mean difference between GoCheck Kids and HOTV-ATS acuities (0.094) was significantly different (p
Highlights • Teleophthalmology is part of our practices due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) • Visual acuity can be checked at home with paper charts or devices • GoCheck Kids has a modest correlation of visual acuity compared to the chart screen • GoCheck Kids has a fair correlation of visual acuity compared to HOTV-ATS