Assessment of intraocular pressure in children by digital tension.
BACKGROUND
Measurement of intraocular pressure by digital tension is a procedure that warrants study to determine if it could reliably yield pressure measurements for young children.


METHODS
Sixty-two children (mean age, 3.8 years) served as subjects for the study. The examiner determined each child's digital tension in mmHg, classifying the measurement as soft to touch, medium to touch, or hard to touch. A masked examiner measured the intraocular pressure with a non-contact tonometer.


RESULTS
Ninety-eight percent of the digital tension measurements yielded correct classification of the pressure when compared with non-contact tonometry results. The correlation for the digital tension determination of intraocular pressure with non-contact tonometry measurements was significant: 0.38 (p < 0.05) for O.D. and 0.39 (p < 0.05) for O.S.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests use of digital tension as a reliable means of obtaining the intraocular pressure of young children. Digital tension tends to under-estimate the intraocular pressure when compared to non-contact tonometry readings.
D002675:Child, Preschool; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D010173:Palpation / Q000379:methods*; D011312:Pressure; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014065:Tonometry, Ocular / Q000379:methods