Tear meniscus height agreement and reproducibility between two corneal topographers and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.

Clinical Relevance: Tear meniscus height (TMH) is an important clinical marker in dry eye diagnosis and management.

Purpose: To evaluate the reproducibility and agreement of TMH measurements in non-clinical participants using the Oculus Keratograph 5 M, Medmont Meridia, and Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (Spectralis SD-OCT).

Methods: Fifty-six participants (mean 43.8 ± 22.4 years) were recruited for this cross-sectional study. Image acquisitions were performed on the three devices, sequentially and randomized. The repeatability and reproducibility of inter-observer and inter-device analysis were performed. Repeated measures ANOVA and Bland-Altman Plots were used to evaluate the agreement between devices.

Results: The mean TMH with the Oculus Keratograph 5 M, Medmont Meridia and Spectralis SD-OCT were 0.29 ± 0.16 mm, 0.24 ± 0.09 mm and 0.27 ± 0.16 mm, respectively. There were no significant inter-observer differences (paired t-tests,  < 0.001). All the devices exhibited good inter-observer reliability (ICC ≥ 0.877), and good repeatability (CV ≤ 16.53%). Inter-device reliability is moderate (ICC = 0.621,  < 0.001). Repeated measures ANOVA revealed that TMH measurements given by the Spectralis SD-OCT are not significantly different from the Oculus Keratograph 5 M ( = 0.19) and the Medmont Meridia ( = 0.38). TMH measurements from Oculus Keratograph 5 M were significantly higher than those from Medmont Meridia ( = 0.02). Correlations between the mean TMH and the difference in the TMH measurements were positive for Oculus Keratograph 5 M and Medmont Meridia (r = 0.62,  < 0.001), negative for Medmont Meridia and Spectralis SD-OCT (r = -0.59,  < 0.001), and not significant for Oculus Keratograph 5 M and Spectralis SD-OCT (r = 0.05,  = 0.74). A strong correlation was found for TMH measured with all devices (r = 0.55 to 0.81,  < 0.001).

Conclusions: The Oculus Keratograph 5 M, Medmont Meridia, and Spectralis SD-OCT provide reliable and reproducible inter-observer TMH measurements. Inter-device reliability is moderate, with a close correlation between Spectralis SD-OCT and the Oculus Keratograph 5 M. Oculus Keratograph 5 M and Medmont Meridia are repeatable devices appropriate for the measurement of TMH, but they are not interchangeable in clinical practice.