Health
New Eye Test on Smartphone is as Accurate as Paper Test
LONDON (UPI) — A smartphone app was used to perform vision tests as accurately as paper tests and illuminated vision boxes during a study in rural Kenya.
Tests carried out in patients’ homes using the Portable Eye Examination Kit, or Peek, were shown to be more than 90 percent accurate when compared to the results of traditional tests done in doctor’s offices, according to a field test study.
“In this study we aimed to develop and validate a smartphone-based visual acuity test for eyesight which would work in challenging circumstances, such as rural Africa, but also provide reliable enough results to use in routine clinical practice in well-established healthcare systems,” said Dr. Andrew Bastawrous, Lecturer in International Eye Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, in a press release.
Peek consists of a series of apps and a piece of hardware called Peek Retina. For this study, the app Peek Acuity was used. The app features a tumbling letter “E” and requires patients to indicate on the phone what direction the legs of the letter are pointing.
