Manhattan Vision Screening and Follow-Up Study (NYC-SIGHT)

October 10, 2025 updated by: Lisa Hark, PhD, MBA, Columbia University

The Manhattan Vision Screening and Follow-Up Study (NYC-SIGHT)

The investigators are conducting a 5-year prospective, 2:1 cluster-randomized controlled trial, funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which provides vision screenings to underserved New York City residents living in affordable housing buildings in Harlem and Washington Heights.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

This study aims to increase engagement, detection and management of glaucoma, vision impairment, cataracts, and other eye diseases in vulnerable populations living in New York City. This study considers disparities by race, ethnicity, gender, geography, and socioeconomic status using innovative approaches such as patient navigators. Individuals over the age of 40 living in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Housing buildings are eligible.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

749

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10032
        • Columbia University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

40 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Individuals over age 40
  • Living independently in NYCHA housing building or attending DFTA Senior Center
  • Willing to answer COVID-19 symptom questions
  • Willing to consent for 2 vision screening visits at baseline and 12-month follow-up

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Self-reported terminal illness with life expectancy less than 1 year
  • Inability to provide informed consent due to dementia or other reasons

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Screening
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Enhanced Intervention
Consented subjects living in buildings randomized to the Patient Navigator Intervention arm who failed the screening and needed vision correction received free eyeglasses, which were fitted by an optician at the housing building. If they were referred to an ophthalmologist for a follow-up eye exam, they received enhanced support with patient navigators to assist with follow-up eye exams at Columbia Ophthalmology or Harlem Hospital, specifically eye exam appointment scheduling and arranging transportation over a 1-year period.
Enhanced support by patient navigators assisted with follow-up eye exam appointment scheduling and arranging transportation over a 1-year period.
Placebo Comparator: Usual Care
Consented subjects living in buildings randomized to Usual Care arm who failed the screening and needed vision correction were given an eyeglasses prescription and a list of optical shops within 1 mile from their home. These subjects who are referred to an ophthalmologist for a follow-up eye exam were only scheduled for their initial appointment at either Columbia Ophthalmology or Harlem Hospital. They did not receive enhanced support. Scheduling this initial appointment allowed tracking of adherence.
Usual Care subjects who failed the screening and needed vision correction were given an eyeglasses prescription and a list of optical shops within 1 mile from their home. These subjects did not receive enhanced support. Scheduling this initial appointment will allow tracking of adherence.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Proportion of Subjects with Visual Acuity Worse than 20/40
Time Frame: 2 years
Visual acuity (VA) is a measure of the spatial resolution of the visual processing system. Visual acuity will be measured in each eye and measured as ≤20/40 or >20/40. Since there are two best corrected distance visual acuity measurements per person (right eye and left eye), the visual acuity in the worse eye will be used in the analysis and reported at the patient level, rather than the eye level. Visual acuity analysis will be handled as a dichotomous variable and the proportion of subjects with visual acuity 20/40 or worse will be considered abnormal.
2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Lisa A. Hark, PhD, RD, Columbia University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 30, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 29, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 29, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 13, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 13, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

February 17, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

October 15, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 10, 2025

Last Verified

October 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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