Behavioural and emotional issues among primary school pupils with congenital colour vision deficiency in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: A case-control study [version 1; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations]

• Published in: F1000 research 2018, Vol.7, p.1834-1834
• Main Authors: Thomas, Belina Anne William M, Kaur, Sharanjeet, Hairol, Mohd Izzuddin, Ahmad, Mahadir, Wee, Lei Hum
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Aggressive behavior; Anxiety; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child Behavior - psychology; Children & youth; Color blindness; Color vision; Color Vision Defects - congenital; Color Vision Defects - psychology; Consent; Elementary schools; Emotional behavior; Emotions; Female; Females; Gender; Health sciences; Humans; Malaysia; Male; Medical screening; Mental depression; Mothers; Odds Ratio; Questionnaires; Sample size; Schools; Statistical analysis; Students; Studies; Teaching; Territory
• ISSN: 2046-1402; 2046-1402
• DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.17006.1

Background: Congenital colour vision deficiency (CCVD) is an untreatable disorder which has lifelong consequences. Increasing use of colours in schools has raised concern for pupils with CCVD. This case-control study was conducted to compare behavioural and emotional issues among age, gender and class-matched pupils with CCVD and normal colour vision (NCV). Methods: A total of 1732 pupils from 10 primary schools in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur were screened, of which 46 pupils (45 males and 1 female) had CCVD. Mothers of male pupils with CCVD (n=44) and NCV (n=44) who gave consent were recruited to complete a self-administered parent report form, Child Behaviour Checklist for Ages 4-18 (CBCL/ 4-18) used to access behavioural and emotional problems. The CBCL/ 4-18 has three broad groupings: Internalising, Externalising and Total Behaviour Problems. Internalising Problems combines the Withdrawn, Somatic Complaints and Anxiety/ Depression sub constructs, while Externalising Problems combines the Delinquent and Aggressive Behaviour sub constructs. Results: Results from CBCL/ 4-18 showed that all pupils from both groups had scores within the normal range for all constructs. However, results from the statistical analysis for comparison, Mann-Whitney U test, showed that pupils with CCVD scored significantly higher for Externalising Problems (U=697.50, p=0.02) and Total Behaviour Problems (U=647.00, p= 0.01). Significantly higher scores were observed in Withdrawn (U=714.00, p=0.02), Thought Problems (U=438.50, p