The Prevalence of Congenital Color Blindness and its Effect on Contrast Sensitivity and Depth Perception

Document Type : Original Article

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Abstract

Introduction:
Color blindness is a common disorder. The congenital type of tcolor blindness is sex-linked and the genes are located on the X chromosome. The prevalence of color blindness among males and females are 5-8 % and 0.5 %, respectively. Color blindness may affect daily activities and could be considered as a disability. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of color blindness and its effect on contrast sensitivity and depth perception among school children in Mashhad.
Methods:
Four thousand four hundred school children (2408 males and 1992 females) were selected randomly and tested by Ishihara for color blindness detection. At the second step, students with color blindness were examined at optometry clinic by the Ishihara test again. Two hundred students were also selected randomly to allocate into a control group. Cambridge and Titmouse tests were taken on the case and control groups.
Results:
Among 4400 schoolchildren, 3% suffered from color blindness (5.1% in boys and 0.4% in girls). Ishihara test showed 2.2% deuteranopia, 0.8% protanopia and 0.6% suspect. The results indicate that the congenital color blindness has no significant effect on contrast sensitivity and depth perception.
Conclusion:
The present report provides valuable information regarding color vision defectiveness among schoolchildren. Effective detection of this anomaly is expected to prevent from substantial effects on their education and future job. It is strongly recommended to perform color vision test at the beginning of a child’s education. 

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Journal of Paramedical Sciences & Rehabilitation
Volume 1, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
December 2012
Pages 47-52

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