Screening for glaucomatous visual field defects: the relationship between sensitivity, specificity and the number of test locations.

The visual field results from 104 eyes with early glaucomatous loss and 1860 normal eyes have been used to derive the relationship between sensitivity, specificity and the number of test locations in a visual field screening test. A logarithmic relationship was found between sensitivity and the number of test locations and a linear relationship between specificity and the number of test locations. The results indicate that large numbers of test locations are not required to reach high levels of sensitivity and that clinically it might be better to screen all patients with a few stimuli quickly than to examine carefully those patients who meet a precondition such as raised intraocular pressure or abnormal disc appearance.