Relationship between age, corneal astigmatism, and ocular dimensions with reference to astigmatism in eyes undergoing routine cataract surgery

Abstract

Purpose To assess the relationship between age, corneal astigmatism, and ocular dimensions with reference to astigmatism correction during cataract surgery. Methods In this cross-sectional study of right eyes of 2247 consecutive patients attending cataract surgery preassessment, data on patient demographics, axial length (AL), anterior chamber depth (ACD), and keratometric astigmatism were collected. Astigmatism was further analyzed as against-the-rule (ATR: steepest meridian 180 ± 30°), with-the-rule (WTR: 90 ± 30°), and oblique (OB: 30-60°or 120-150°). Results Mean age, AL, and ACD were 72.28 ± 13.84 years, 23.99 ± 1.85 mm and 3.08 ± 0.52 mm, respectively. In all, 20.4% eyes had ≤ 0.50 diopters (D), 55.2% had 0.51-1.50 D, 7.9% had 2.01-3.00 D, and 3.7% eyes had 43.00 D of astigmatism. Overall, 44.2% of eyes had corneal astigmatism 41.00 D. Average astigmatism in age ranges 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80-89, and 90+ years were 0.82, 1.04, 1.04, 1.02, 1.15 and 2.01 D, respectively. The magnitude of preoperative astigmatism positively correlated with age (Po0.0001), with increasing and decreasing prevalence of ATR and WTR astigmatism, respectively, with advancing age. The magnitude of ATR astigmatism inversely correlates to AL (Po0.0001). ATR astigmatism is more prevalent with increasing magnitude of astigmatism (Po0.0001). Conclusions A majority of patients for cataract surgery have astigmatism between 0.51 and 1.5 D. ATR astigmatism increases, whereas WTR decreases with age. ATR astigmatism inversely correlates to AL. With increasing age, the magnitude of astigmatism increases and ATR astigmatism becomes increasingly prevalent. The likelihood of a patient requiring astigmatic correction increases with age.

Correlations of Corneal Spherical Aberration with Astigmatism and Axial Length in Cataract Patients

“…A shift from ATR to WTR with age was also detected (Supplementary Material Table 5), which is consistent with previous findings [15, 16].…”

Prevalence and Age-Related Changes of Corneal Astigmatism in Patients Undergoing Cataract Surgery in Northern China

“…More and more studies have begun to pay attention to the relationship between age and corneal astigmatism. Similar findings showed that the magnitude of corneal astigmatism increased with increasing age [ 6 , 25 ]. In current study, interestingly, we found a stronger U-shaped association between corneal astigmatism and age ( Figure 3 ), which was not reported in most of the previous studies.…”

Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of acute angle-closure mechanisms

“…Although PL had the deepest ACD among our subgroups, it was still shallow when compared to the ACD in PL measured in prior studies (2.80–3.14 mm) [ 18 – 20 ]. This surprising finding may be explained firstly by the frequent mixed mechanisms that often underlie AAC.…”