Abstract
Purpose :
Uncorrected refractive errors is a major cause of vision impairment worldwide, leading to a reduced quality of life and limiting daily activities. An instant vision assessment device (IVAD) developed earlier required significant cooperation from the proband repetitive manual manipulation of the lens power by the practitioners. Recently, we enhanced our design using a novel semi-automated refraction system - Eye-ropter. This study aimed to compare the accuracy and repeatability of subjective refraction measures using Eye-ropter, IVAD and conventional optometric methods.
Methods :
36 young healthy adult subjects (23.09 ± 3.29 years) and 26 elderly subjects (64.84 ± 5.47 years) were recruited. Subjective refraction was performed using 3 methods: 1) conventional subjective refraction (SR) following standard optometric procedures; 2) manual refraction using IVAD; and 3) semi-automated refraction using the Eye-ropter. Each researcher only conducted one type of refraction and was masked from the results of other methods. The order of refractive measures was randomized across subjects, but the same sequence was used for the second visit to evaluate the reproducibility. Visual acuity (VA) was measured by trial lenses with the nearest 0.25D step.
Results :
Refractive parameters were analyzed in terms of spherical equivalent refraction (SER), and vertical and oblique cylindrical vectors (J0 and J45). The SER measured by SR, IVAD, and Eye-ropter in the young group was -2.84 ± 2.59D, -2.68 ± 2.42D, and -2.69 ± 2.54D, respectively; in the elderly group was -1.23 ± 2.05D, -1.47 ± 1.90D, and -1.18 ± 2.22D respectively. No significant difference was found for the SER (p=0.83), J0 (p= 0.40), and J45 (p= 0.17) measured among the three methods. However, better VA was achieved by SR compared to IVAD (-0.11 ± 0.01 LogMAR, p<0.01) and Eye-ropter (-0.14 ± 0.01 LogMAR, p<0.01). The intraclass correlation (ICC) for Eye-ropter measured between visits for the young group was high for SER (0.98), and J0 (0.99), but low for J45 (0.19). In contrast, the ICC for the elderly group was high for SER (0.96), J0 (0.79), and J45 (0.79).
Conclusions :
Eye-ropter is a reliable refraction method that provides comparable results to the conventional subjective refraction conducted by optometrists. Further data analysis with a larger sample size and wider age range is warranted.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.