The Impact of Visual Impairment after Stroke (IVIS) study introduced a standardised vision assessment protocol across three acute stroke units in the northwest of England, with a similar demographic population (predominantly white British). The study reported similar rates of visual impairment across each of these units. The aim of this paper was to report the IVIS visual assessment protocol in a different UK geographical area and demographic population to consider generalisability / external validity, applicability and reproducibility of the IVIS results. The paper reports the use of the IVIS vision assessment protocol in an acute stroke unit in Bradford; the IVIS extension (IVIS-e) study. The Bradford population is ethnically diverse with 64% identified as white British and the largest proportion of people with Pakistani ethnic origin in England at 20%. A total of 123 stroke survivors underwent vision screening by an orthoptist. Of these, two died and 28 could not be assessed. Of the 93 remaining, 10 stroke survivors (10.8%) had a normal vision assessment and 83 (89.2%) had a detected visual impairment. The visual profile was similar across this IVIS-e and original IVIS cohorts for most types of visual impairment, although overall more visual impairment was detected in IVIS-e. The authors conclude that differences between cohorts were primarily related to a lower age and smaller white British ethnicity in the IVIS-e cohort. They recommend further roll out of the IVIS assessment protocol to other regions and countries, to improve detection of post stroke visual impairment.
