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Purpose: To investigate aging effect on ocular parameters inkluding intraocular pressure (IOP) measured with different tonometry methods in healthy young (HY) and elderly (HE) subjects.

Methods: Fifty eyes of 50 HY subjects (28 females, 22-31 years of age) and 43 eyes of 43 HE subjects (22 females, 64-79 years of age) were included. IOP was measured with four tonometry methods in a standardized order: Ocular Response Analyser (ORA), Dynamic Contour Tonometry (DCT), Applanation Resonance Tonometry (ART) and Goldmann Applanation Tonometry (GAT). Other measurements included axial length (AL), central corneal thickness (CCT), corneal curvature (CC), ocular pulse amplitude (OPA) and aqueous humor (aq).

Results: The mean IOP (HY/HE; mmHg ± standard deviation) was 13.9 ± 2.7/16.4 ± 3.4 with ORA, 15.1 ± 2.1/16.3 ± 3.1 with DCT, 12.3 ± 2.0/13.7 ± 2.8 with GAT and 13.1 ± 2.2/12.1 ± 2.5 with ART. IOP was significantly higher (difference ± standard error) in HE compared to HY measured with ORA (+2.5 mmHg ± 0.6), GAT (+1.4 ± 0.5) and DCT (+1.2 ± 0.6). There was a trend towards lower IOP in HE when measured with ART (-1.0 ± 0.5, p=0.05). There was no difference between HE and HY in CCT, CC, AL or OPA.

Conclusions: Tonometry methods are affected differently by age. IOP was measured higher in elderly people with ORA, DCT and GAT in this Scandinavian population. This effect was not seen in measurements with ART. Other ocular parameters did not differ between the age groups indicating that these measured parameters are not influenced by age in this population.