A Pilot Evaluation Assessing the Ease of Use and Accuracy of the New Self/Home-Tonometer IcareHOME in Healthy Young Subjects.

PURPOSE

We investigated the ease of use and accuracy of a new self/home-tonometer (IcareHOME) versus Goldmann applanation tonometry (GAT) and the Icare tonometer (Icare) by measuring the diurnal intraocular pressure (IOP).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The right eyes of 43 healthy young subjects were studied. The IOP was measured using the IcareHOME, GAT, and Icare 6 times a day, every 2 hours, from 8:00 to 18:00. The coincidence of the diurnal curves among all tonometers was analyzed using a linear mixed model. The intradevice and interdevice agreement was evaluated using the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Bland-Altman method. The subjects' perception of the IcareHOME was evaluated using a questionnaire.

RESULTS

The liner mixed model showed similar diurnal IOP curves for all tonometers (P=0.543); however, significant differences were observed between the tonometers over time (P0.8 among all tonometers, although the interdevice agreement was lowest between the IcareHOME and GAT (ICC=0.641). The IOP values were significantly lower for the IcareHOME than for the GAT at 12:00, 16:00, and 18:00 (P<0.05, Tukey-Kramer test). The mean differences between the Icare and IcareHOME and GAT and IcareHOME were 0.83 and 1.03 mm Hg, respectively (95% limit of agreement: -4.17 to 5.84 mm Hg and -3.91 to 5.98 mm Hg, respectively). Regarding the subjects' perception of handling the IcareHOME, 17 (39.5%) subjects answered "easy to use," 20 (46.5%) answered "normal," and six (13.9%) answered "difficult to use."

CONCLUSIONS

The IcareHOME can be used as a self/home-tonometer; however, it may result in lower IOP values.