Visual Acuity Screening of Refugees and Immigrants with a Web-Based Digital Test: A Pilot Study

Bakirtzis, Minas; Michaleakou, Eirini; Martidou, Maria-Eleni; Lahana, Eleni; Kostagiolas, Petros; Niakas, Dimitris; Labiris, Georgios

doi:10.14712/18059694.2025.2

Acta Medica > Archive > 2024, Vol. 67 > Issue 3 > Visual Acuity Screening of Refugees and…

Acta Med. 2024, 67: 79-86

https://doi.org/10.14712/18059694.2025.2

Visual Acuity Screening of Refugees and Immigrants with a Web-Based Digital Test: A Pilot Study

Minas Bakirtzis^a, Eirini Michaleakou^b, Maria-Eleni Martidou^b, Eleni Lahana^b,c, Petros Kostagiolas^b,d, Dimitris Niakas^b,e, Georgios Labiris^a,b

^aMedical School, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece
^bFaculty of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece
^cDepartment of Public and One Health, School of Social Sciences, University of Thessaly, Karditsa, Greece
^dDepartment of Archives, Library Science and Museology, School of Information Science and Informatics, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece
^eMedical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

Received July 15, 2024
Accepted September 3, 2024

Purpose: To screen visual acuity in two refugee camps in Greece and explore the feasibility of replicating these methods on a nationwide scale. Methods: Visual acuity was assessed in all participants using web-based Democritus Digital Acuity & Reading Test (DDART). Furthermore, the immigrants responded to a structured questionnaire regarding their demographics and medical history. Results: A total of 330 adult refugees and immigrants were recruited. A total of 47.3% of the patients had never undergone ophthalmological examination. A significant negative correlation was detected between age (r = −0.207, p < 0.001) and educational background (r = −0.135, p = 0.014), suggesting that younger immigrants who had attended compulsory education were more likely to have their eyes checked in their home country. A total of 6.97% of patients presented with impaired vision and were referred for further care. All remote DDART measurements presented no differences from the corresponding hospital-based data in the referred cases. Conclusions: Visual acuity screening using DDART provides valuable information regarding the visual capacity of refugees. The study outcomes suggest that pilot methods can be replicated on a nationwide scale. Clinical trials. Gov number NCT05209581; date of registration: January 13, 2022. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors have no funding or conflicts of interest to disclose. Patients Consent Statement: The patients sign written consent form.