2020 Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 143-152
[Purpose] To identify problems faced by people with color-vision deficiency associated with current color coding scheme for injectors for diabetes treatment and to make suggestions for improvement, we investigated color discrimination in color-vision deficiency through color classification test for dichromats. [Scope and Method] The subjects included 2 protanopes and 2 deuteranopes. The stimulus were 202 colored pieces of paper, of which 25 colors were taken from those used for total 13 types of long-acting, long-acting BS, and rapid-acting insulin as well as GLP-1 receptor agonist products. The remaining 177 colors were selected systematically. Subjects were asked to classify pieces of colored paper into several groups which they thought were in the same color range (color family). [Results] There were tendencies that protanopes divided colors into broader categories, making fewer groups than deuteranopes did. It was often observed that, among different types of drugs as well as the same type drugs different colors used for their syringes and labels were classified into the same color group. [Conclusion] Since different colors distinguishable by people with normal color vision were frequently grouped into the same color by people with color-vision deficiency, potential difficulties may exist in color discrimination in clinical settings. Therefore it is necessary to use appropriate color codes with unique characters and marks for identification of syringes.
