Reliability and reproducibility of the German version of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons reading charts

Abstract

To create a validated, standardized, logarithmic European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) reading chart in German and to use this reading chart as a template for comparable reading charts in other languages. Hanusch Hospital, Vienna, and Department of Ophthalmology, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria. Prospective multicenter validation study. Thirty-nine short standardized German sentences were developed and tested on healthy volunteers and pseudophakic patients. On the first visit, corrected distance visual acuity was assessed in each eye using autorefraction (KR8000) and subjective refraction using Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study charts at 4 m. Reading speed, when reading the new ESCRS reading charts, was tested under photopic conditions (85 to 100 candelas/m(2)) and high contrast (≥95% Michelson contrast). The study assessed 120 subjects. Sixty subjects were young healthy volunteers and 60 were pseudophakic patients. Reliability of the sentences was tested using Cronbach's α and was found to be high (α = 0.994). Furthermore, reproducibility was high in most cases and the absolute mean difference between the first measurement and second measurement for all sentences was 0.56 seconds ± 0.07 (SD) (range 0.43 to 0.72 seconds). The German version of the ESCRS reading charts, a standardized logarithmic and validated reading test, was reliable in healthy volunteers as well as in pseudophakic patients. No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.