Researchers from the University of Melbourne have determined that home monitoring of visual fields (VF) can yield increased patient compliance and comparable results to those found with in-clinic testing.

The study recruited 186 eyes of 101 glaucoma suspects or patients. The team recorded in-clinic visual fields at baseline and at six months with the Humphrey Field Analyzer. Participants were tasked with performing six VF examinations from home at weekly intervals.

The investigators found excellent compliance with at-home VF monitoring with the Melbourne Rapid Fields application, with 88% of participants successfully completing ≥1 home exam and 69% completing all six exams. They deemed the compliance rate to be high.

Barriers to uptake and compliance included IT issues, lack of motivation or competing life demands. At-home testing showed greater fixation loss but a similar amount of false positives as in-clinic testing. The study found a high correlation for the mean defect between in-clinic and at-home outcomes.

“Home testing of vision allows patients to take an active role in monitoring their condition and reducing the burden of unnecessary reviews on the hospital system,” the study authors noted. They concluded that weekly home monitoring can provide useful VF information between clinical visits that can be used to supplement clinical decision management.