Intraobserver Reliability of the Teller Acuity Card Procedure in Infants With Perinatal Complications

Purpose. Intraobserver test-retest reliability of the Teller Acuity Card (TAC) procedure for estimating grating acuity was assessed in 79 infants who had been treated in a neonatal intensive care unit for preterm birth and/or other perinatal complications. Methods. Subjects were tested monocularly at one or more of four different age intervals that ranged between 2.5 and 18.5 mo corrected age. Testers were masked to the location and spatial frequency of the grating on each card. Results. Of the intraobserver test-retest scores, 91% differed by no more than one octave and 68% differed by no more than 0.5 octave. Intraobserver agreement was similar to that reported previously for healthy, preterm infants. Reliability was uniform between infants of differing levels of risk for abnormal visual development but bore effects of low tester ratings of confidence. Conclusions. The results demonstrate the reliability of the TAC procedure but suggest that test sessions should be repeated when tester confidence in validity of results is low.