BACKGROUND:

The aim was to determine the agreement in keratometric readings measured with the Biograph/LENSTAR, the Pentacam and an auto-kerato-refractometer in a 40- to 64-year-old population.

METHODS:

This report is part of the first phase of the population-based Shahroud Cohort Eye Study. In virgin eyes, agreement among keratometry readings of three devices was examined in 7,260 eyes using the Bland-Altman method. The inter-device 95 per cent limits of agreement (95% LoA) and 95% confidence interval for upper and lower limits of agreement were calculated. Comparisons were made for keratometric readings of the flat and steep meridians as maximum keratometry (max-K), minimum keratometry (min-K) and their average (mean-K).

RESULTS:

Based on Biograph/LENSTAR measurements, averages of max-K, min-K and mean-K were 44.70 ± 1.64, 43.87 ± 1.54 and 44.28 ± 1.58 D, respectively. The quantile-quantile plot revealed that all three variables had normal distributions in this population. Agreement between the Biograph/LENSTAR and the auto-kerato-refractometer (max-K difference: -0.03 D, 95% LoA: -0.81 to 0.75; min-K difference: -0.08 D, 95% LoA: -0.85 to 0.68) was better than the agreement between the Biograph/LENSTAR and the Pentacam (max-K difference: 0.50 D, 95% LoA: -3.24 to 4.25; min-K difference: 0.59 D, 95% LoA: -3.00 to 4.17). The agreement between the Pentacam and the auto-kerato-refractometer (max-K difference: 0.54 D, 95% LoA: -3.16 to 4.24; min-K difference: 0.66 D, 95% LoA: -0.77 to 0.53) was worse than the other two pairs.

CONCLUSION:

These three devices are not interchangeable in terms of keratometry for calculation of the intraocular lens power. Agreement between the Biograph/LENSTAR and the auto-kerato-refractometer can be increased with regression models but this is not true in case of Biograph/LENSTAR and Pentacam.