Elise galvan

What are the background statistics in

Inherited Color deficiency?

Topic question

How is color vision deficiency diagnosed and what are the background statistics of it?

Introduction

It's interesting to think how color vision really affects people and how they see things. Color vision really

affects people's lives and how they do things that are different from others. With all the research that I’ve

done for color deficiency, it amazes me that there are different ways that it’s caused, how it could be

treated and tested. This inability is really rare to some people and most don’t even know that they do have

it depending on if you ever got tested. Color blindness is a genetic condition, which means you are born

with it. Color blindness can also happen because of damage to your eye or your brain. And color vision

may get worse as you get older often because of cataracts. The background statistics of color deficiency

rely on what different things cause it, risk and how people live with it. A color vision problem can change

your life. It makes it harder to learn and read, and you may not be able to have certain careers. Many

young children get teased because of their condition, and few will believe what they are told. But people

with color blindness can and have learned to make up for their problems seeing color.
Exploration

Color vision deficiency is the inability to distinguish certain shades of color. The term "color blindness" is

also used to describe this visual condition, but very few people are completely color blind. The eye is a

difficult and complex piece of anatomy capable of determining everything from shapes, colors and to

details. There are many tasks the eye is able to perform, but one of the eye’s key tasks is to aid in the

determination of the many variations of color.[4] The brain is able to differentiate color based on the

different wavelengths that hit and are transmitted by the retina. This is because the cones that, in part,

make up the retina contain photopigments sensitive to short, medium and long wavelengths of light often

associated with the three primary colors red, blue and green. [5] Absorption of combinations of

wavelengths allow the brain to perceive the different variations of color.

Analysis

Color blindness affects approximately 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 200 women in the world. In Britain this

means that there are approximately 3 million colour blind people who are mostly male. Researchers

studying red and green color blindness in the United Kingdom reported an average prevalence of only 4.7

percent in one group. Only 1 percent of Eskimo males are color blind. Approximately 2.9 percent of boys

from Saudi Arabia and 3.7 percent from India were found to have deficient color vision. Red/green color

blindness may slightly increase an affected person's chances of contracting leprosy. Preterm infants

exhibit an increased prevalence of blue color blindness. Achromatopsia has a prevalence of about one in

33,000 in the United States and affects males and females equally.
Types of color vision deficiency

The most common type of color blindness makes it hard to tell the difference between red and green.

Another type makes it hard to tell the difference between blue and yellow. Blue/yellow color blindness

can be observed only very rarely. Different studies diverge a lot in the numbers but as a rule of thumb you

could say one out of 10’000 persons is affected at most. In contrast to red/green color blindness tritan

defects are autosomal and encoded on chromosome 7. This means tritanopia and tritanomaly are not sex-

linked traits and therefore women and men are equally affected. People who are completely color blind

don’t see color at all in some cases but its pretty rare. Color blindness that is inherited is present in both

eyes and remains constant over an individual's entire life. Some cases of acquired color vision loss are not

severe, may appear in only one eye, and last for only a short time. Other cases tend to become worse with

time.

Data collected from ‘’The genetics of normal and defective color vision’’ article.[6]

NORMAL L-CONE M-CONE S-CONE

VISION DEFECT DEFECT DEFECT

MEN 91.4% 2.45% 6.1% 0.01%

WOMEN 99.6% 0.04% 0.36% 0.04%

OVERALL 95.5% 1.25% 3.24% 0.025%

This data that was collected was based on the percentages of different color vision defects from men and

women. This data proves how vision defects from the cones are based on the type of person who is being

diagnosed with this. The different types go for anyone from any gender or any type of person and what
they have. It goes more into the statistics and what exactly happens when someone is diagnosed with this

deficiency so you could understand how it works and possibly how to work with it.

These conditions occur in fewer than 1 in 10,000 people worldwide. Blue cone monochromacy is rarer

than the other forms of color vision deficiency, affecting about 1 in 100,000 people worldwide. Like red

or green color vision defects, blue cone monochromacy affects males much more often than females. The

different types of color vision deficiency.

Red/green and blue color blindness appear to be located on at least two different gene locations. The

majority of affected individuals are males. Females are carriers but are not normally affected. [2] This

indicates that the X chromosome is one of the locations for color blindness. Male offspring of females

who carry the altered gene have a 50 percent chance of being color-blind. [2] The rare female that has red

and green color blindness, or rarer still, blue color blindness, indicates there is an involvement of another

gene. As of 2004, the location of this gene was not yet identified.

This data graph is from ‘’The Color-Sensitive Cones’’ article.[7]

mostly packed into the fovea centralis. By population, about 64% of the cones are red-sensitive, about

32% green sensitive, and about 2% are blue sensitive.[7] The "blue" cones have the highest sensitivity

and are mostly found outside the fovea. The shapes of the curves are obtained by measurement of the

absorption by the cones, but the relative heights for the three types are set equal for lack of detailed data.

[7] the different sensitivity levels indicate how the colors work through the eye and how it is being seen

from a person. There are fewer blue cones, but the blue sensitivity is comparable to the others, so there

must be some boosting mechanism. In the final visual perception, the three types seem to be comparable,

but the detailed process of achieving this is not known.

Color deficiency is an inherited condition caused by a common X-linked recessive gene, which is passed

from a mother to her son. Disease or injury that damages the optic nerve or retina can also cause loss of

color recognition. [1] Some diseases that can cause color deficits are:

● Diabetes

● Glaucoma

● Macular degeneration

● Alzheimer's disease.

● Parkinson's disease.

● Multiple Sclerosis.

● Chronic alcoholism.

● Leukemia.

● Sickle Cell Anemia.

Color vision testing

To get tested or diagnosed for CVD is being tested through a doctor. During the test, your eye doctor will

show you a circle made of many different colored dots. The circle has a shape inside it that’s made out of

dots like a number, a letter, or a squiggly line. This shape is easy to see if you don’t have color blindness,

but people who are color blind have a hard time seeing it. There are different types of tests to take: color

plate test, anomaloscope test, & hue test which all indicate ways to check for CVD.

Charts of
Treatment and prevention

As of 2004 there is no treatment or cure for color blindness. Most color vision deficient persons

compensate well for their abnormality and usually rely on color cues and details that are not consciously

evident to persons with typical color vision. Inherited color blindness cannot be prevented. In the case of

some types of acquired color deficiency, if the cause of the problem is removed, the condition may

improve with time. But for most people with acquired color blindness, the damage is usually

permanent.There is no way to prevent genetic color blindness. There is no way to prevent acquired color

blindness that is associated with Alzheimer's disease, diabetes mellitus, leukemia, liver disease, macular

degeneration, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, sickle cell anemia, and retinitis pigmentosa.

Conclusion

Color deficiency is so important because people often overlook how much the inability to see certain

colors can change a person’s life. It affects everything from what jobs a color deficient person can do to

small choices like what that person would want to eat. Since color deficiency does not physically hurt a

human, those without color deficiency do not realize the person is being forced to adapt to a world in

which he or she cannot properly perceive a significant portion. Educating people both with and without

color deficiency of the effects of the problems, the gap between both perceptions can be significantly

lessened well towards others. Today, many changes and efforts are still being made to improve the

knowledge of color deficiency. In recent years, efforts have been made to make color deficiency tests

more accessible to the public. [4] One of the best methods of encouraging the public is through the use of

online tests such as the Color Vision Plate Test found on EnChroma (Schmeder, McPherson, and

Sheldon, n.d.). There are many online tests like this one are important because it encourages people of

this condition to seek help by allowing them to understand the problem as well as provide assistance
using the websites provided. Research is the best way to help anyone affected with color deficiency

regardless of severity because it widens the general public’s comprehension on the struggles a color

deficient person faces and encourages new solutions to avert everyday troubles.

Cited source 1: https://www.aoa.org/healthy-eyes/eye-and-vision-conditions/color-vision-deficiency?

sso=y#:~:text=People%20who%20are%20totally%20color,caused%20by%20injury%20or%20illness.

Source 2: https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health/eye-conditions-and-diseases/color-

blindness/causes-color-blindness

Source 3: https://www.colourblindawareness.org/colour-blindness/inherited-colour-vision-deficiency/

Source 4:

https://www.2020mag.com/article/the-importance-of-understanding-color-vision-deficiency

Source 5: Stein, Stein, and Freeman, 2013, pg. 26

Source 6: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3075382/

Source 7: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/colcon.html