RESUMO
The prevalence and nature of corneal astigmatism among patients with cataract has not been well‑documented in the resident African population. This retrospective study was undertaken to investigate preexisting corneal astigmatism in adult patients with cataract. We analyzed keratometric readings acquired by manual Javal‑Schiotz keratometry before surgery between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. There were 3,169 patients (3286 eyes) aged between 16 and 110 years involved with a Male to female ratio of 1.4:1. Mean keratometry in diopters was K1 = 43.99 and K2 = 43.80. Mean corneal astigmatism was 1.16 diopter and a majority (45.92%) of eyes had astigmatism between 1.00 and 1.99 diopters. Two‑thirds of the eyes (66.9%) in this study had preoperative corneal astigmatism equal to or above 1.00 diopter. Findings will help local cataract surgeons to estimate the potential demand for toric intraocular lenses.