Correlation of spatial contrast sensitivity and visual fields in glaucoma

Perimetry is the standard examination in glaucoma, whereas contrast sensitivity is often proposed as a complementary test. This study investigates the extent to which the outcomes of the two tests correlate. One eye each of 44 glaucoma patients and 16 glaucoma suspects was tested with the Haag-Streit Visometer and the Octopus 201 perimeter (program G1). Contrast sensitivities correlated highest with the center of the visual field (Spearman's rho = 0.76;P < 0.001) and slightly less with the mean sensitivity of the entire visual field (rho = 0.63;P < 0.001). Mean contrast sensitivity correlated weakly with the square root of corrected loss variance (rho= –0.45;P < 0.001) and short-term fluctuation (rho = –0.34;P < 0.007). The two tests differed considerably only in very few patients. We recommend careful evaluation of the central area of glaucomatous visual fields whenever contrast sensitivity testing is not available.Mario Zulauf is a visiting research scientist at the Yale Eye Center, supported by the Florian Verry Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland, and the Swiss National Fund.