Assessment of Color Vision Deficiency

Colour vision deficiency encompasses a spectrum of inherited or acquired impairments that reduce the ability to distinguish between specific hues under normal lighting. Congenital forms arise from genetic alterations in cone photopigment genes, most commonly affecting red–green discrimination, while rarer tritan defects involve blue–yellow confusion. Acquired deficiencies may result from ocular disease, systemic illness, ageing or exposure to neurotoxic agents. Clinical assessment typically employs pseudoisochromatic plates for rapid screening of red–green anomalies and hue arrangement tests such as the Farnsworth–Munsell 100-Hue for detailed profiling of discrimination losses across the visible spectrum. Anomaloscopy remains the reference standard for quantifying red–green axes, but its complexity limits routine use. Recent trends include digital and automated platforms that deliver objective metrics of severity and speed of testing, alongside molecular analysis to identify carriers and subclinical alterations. Accurate assessment underpins public health policies, informs occupational and driving regulations, guides the design of compensatory devices and lays the groundwork for future interventions aimed at enhancing functional outcomes for affected individuals.

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Assessment of Color Vision Deficiency publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in assessment of color vision deficiency across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Colour vision deficiency: Impaired capacity to discriminate certain colours, typically red–green or blue–yellow, under normal illumination.

Pseudoisochromatic plate: A test card composed of coloured dots that conceal figures or numerals, used to identify red–green anomalies.

Protanopia, Deuteranopia, Tritanopia: Types of dichromatic deficiencies due to absence of red-, green- or blue-sensitive cones, respectively.

Dichromatic confusion lines: Directions in colour space along which two hues appear identical to observers lacking a class of cone photoreceptors.

Threshold ratio: A comparative metric of sensitivity thresholds along different chromatic axes, used to quantify severity of deficiency.

References

1. Defects of colour vision: A review of congenital and acquired colour vision deficiencies. African Vision and Eye Health (2016).
2. Validation of a New Digital and Automated Color Perception Test. Diagnostics (2024).
3. ColourSpot, a novel gamified tablet-based test for accurate diagnosis of color vision deficiency in young children. Behavior Research Methods (2021).
4. Comparing the validity of an online Ishihara colour vision test to the traditional Ishihara handbook in a South African university population. African Vision and Eye Health (2018).
5. Prevalence of Congenital Color Vision Deficiency in Southern Taiwan and Detection of Female Carriers by Visual Pigment Gene Analysis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2023).
6. Colour vision restrictions for driving: an evidence-based perspective on regulations in ASEAN countries compared to other countries. The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia (2023).