An eye scanner may be able to detect glaucoma in patients by examining patterns of eye movements recorded when subjects watch a movie, according to researchers at City University London who published their findings in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

"At present, healthcare detection and monitoring of patients with sensory impairments resulting from chronic age-related neurodegenerative disease is done, mainly inadequately, in a clinic; a system that is likely unsustainable in the future," researchers wrote. "Instead of relying on infrequent tests in a clinic, focus should shift to capturing health-related data acquired as part of a person's ordinary daily activities."

The participant group consisted of 32 people with healthy vision and 44 patients with a clinical diagnosis of glaucoma. Participants with glaucoma were recruited from clinics at London-based Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. All patients in this group had been diagnosed with open angle glaucoma (COAG) for at least two years and were between the ages of 50 and 80 years old. The control group was recruited at the City University London Optometry Clinic.

Participants viewed three unmodified TV and film clips in color. One clip came from Dads Army, a BBC Television show, another came from a film called The History Boys, and the third was from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Men's Ski Cross. Participants were positioned 60 cm away from the screen and used a chin rest.

After conducting the study, the researchers didn't acquire sufficient eye tracking data for two individuals. The researchers found that the eye scanner device could identify a glaucoma patient at a fixed specificity of 90 percent, 79 percent of the time.

Eye movements were recorded using an eye tracking tool, called SR Research EyeLink 1000, but researchers can foresee a time when this system could just be an app.

"Technology that identifies where someone is looking has improved dramatically in the last five years," Lead Researcher David Crabb told the Washington Post. "This technology is very much being driven by people developing phones and tablets, and we think it's going to be more affordable and accurate over time, and you might be able to do your eye testing at home at some point."