Analysis of keratometric measurements in accordance with axial length in an aged population

Abstract

To investigate keratometric measurements according to axial length in an aged population. Patients requiring cataract surgery with keratometric measurements from four different ophthalmic devices (autorefractor/keratometer, Scheimpflug imaging, corneal topography/ray-tracing aberrometry, and partial coherence interferometry) between January 2016 and March 2021 were reviewed retrospectively. Cases for which four ophthalmic devices were deployed in the same order a day were included in this investigation. The corneal curvature of the flattest and steepest meridian, mean corneal curvature, corneal astigmatism, steepest axis location, and axial length were evaluated. In total, 250 eyes (137 patients) were included in the analysis. A negative correlation was found between mean corneal curvature and axial length, with correlation coefficients of 0.587, 0.592, 0.588, 0.591, 0.588, and 0.562 for autorefractor/keratometer, Scheimpflug imaging, corneal topography/ray-tracing aberrometry, partial coherence interferometry, total corneal refractive power of Scheimpflug imaging, and simulated keratometry of corneal topography/ray-tracing aberrometry measurements, respectively. No statistically significant differences were found for corneal astigmatism according to axial length. In axial length group of less than 26.0 mm, negative correlation was found between axial length and mean frontal corneal curvature while no correlation was found between axial length and corneal astigmatism. All four ophthalmic devices showed good inter-device reliability for mean corneal curvature but not corneal astigmatism.