One of the reasons infants may require docosahexaenoic acid is to support normal visual development. However, the optimal method for assessing visual function of infants has not been established. To evaluate available methods, we have determined test/retest reliability of transient visual evoked responses (latency; amplitude) and acuity measured by steady-state visual evoked potentials (sweep VEP) as well as the Teller acuity card procedure and have compared results obtained with the three procedures. To determine test/retest reliability, each procedure was administered twice within 5 d to 4 mo old infants (n=20-25), using standard protocols. Comparability of findings with all possible pairs of methods was determined by regression analysis. Test/retest reliability data are summarized below:Table Although the mean difference between test and retest results is reasonably small for all methods, the 95% C.I. for individual differences is quite large. More important, there were no statistically significant correlations between findings with any pair of procedures. We conclude that all methods are valid for comparison of visual function between/among groups of infants, but that none reliably predicts visual function/acuity of an individual infant.

Table 1
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