Distribution and Change of Total Astigmatism, Corneal Astigmatism and Residual Astigmatism with Age in Patient with Emmetropia

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: We evaluated the distribution and change of total, corneal and residual astigmatism with age in patients with emmetropia. METHODS: We examined the visual acuity, refraction, and corneal curvature in 263 persons aged from 3 to 83 years (mean, 38 years), with a spherical equivalent refraction of under +/-0.75 diopter (D). We analysed the distribution and change of the astigmatism. RESULTS: Total astigmatism was changed from with-the-rule (WTR) to against-the-rule (ATR) with aging based on WTR of 0.31 +/- 0.48 D in the 3-10 year-old group, ATR of 0.02 +/-0.52 D in the 31-40 year-old group and ATR of 0.65 +/- 0.66 D in the 71-83 year-old group. Corneal astigmatism showed a similar pattern to that of total astigmatism with WTR of 1.03 +/- 0.47 D, WTR of 0.37 +/- 0.78 D, ATR of 0.05 +/- 0.59 D and ATR of 0.31 +/- 0.64 D in the 3-10, 31-40, 61-70 and 71-83 year-old groups, respectively. Residual astigmatism showed ATR astigmatism in all age groups such as ATR of 0.71 +/- 0.48 D, ATR of 0.60 +/- 0.44 D and ATR of 0.35 +/- 0.71 D in the 3-10, 41-50 and 71-83 year-old groups, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Total and corneal astigmatism showed the change from WTR to ATR, and residual astigmatism showed the pattern of decreasing ATR with aging in patients with emmetropia. The change of total astigmatism with aging seems to be influenced by that of corneal astigmatism rather than by that of residual astigmatism.