Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2023 Apr;37(6):1107-1113.
doi: 10.1038/s41433-022-02072-9. Epub 2022 Apr 26.

Differential compensatory role of internal astigmatism in school children and adults: The Hong Kong Children Eye Study

Ka Wai Kam #  1   2 , Arnold Shau Hei Chee #  1   2 , Rex Chin Yung Tang  1 , Yuzhou Zhang  1 , Xiu Juan Zhang  1 , Yu Meng Wang  1 , Sophia Ling Li  1   2 , Li Jia Chen  1   2   3 , Alvin L Young  1   2 , Clement C Tham  1   2   3   4   5 , Chi Pui Pang  1   3 , Jason C Yam  6   7   8   9   10
Affiliations
Comment

Differential compensatory role of internal astigmatism in school children and adults: The Hong Kong Children Eye Study

Ka Wai Kam et al. Eye (Lond). 2023 Apr.

Abstract

Background: To compare the prevalence of refractive (RA), corneal (CA), and internal astigmatism (IA) in Hong Kong children and adults and evaluate the role of IA in compensating for total astigmatism and its relations to myopic traits.

Methods: The Hong Kong Children Eye Study is a population-based cross-sectional study. Totally 3704 school children (mean age 7.5 ± 1.0 years) and 5577 adults (mean age 41.1 ± 7.5 years), who were their parents, were recruited. Cycloplegic and non-cycloplegic refractive cylinders were obtained from children and adults, respectively. Spearman correlation was applied to detect associations between astigmatism, ocular biometrics, refraction, and lens power. Astigmatism compensation factor (CF) was derived from the power vector analysis J0 and J45.

Results: The prevalence of RA (≤-1.0 D), CA (≥+1.0 D) and IA (≥+1.0 D) was 21.9%, 63.9%, and 9.9% in children, and 30.9%, 39.5%, and 23.7% in adults respectively. The mean RA, CA and IA values in children and adults were -0.69 ± 0.66 D, +1.14 ± 0.61 D, +0.62 ± 0.32 D, and -0.80 ± 0.74 D, +0.97 ± 0.69 D, and +0.76 ± 0.43 D, respectively. In adults and children, IA was negatively correlated with axial length (p < 0.0001), but positively correlated with spherical values and equivalent (p < 0.0001), suggesting an association of astigmatism with myopic traits. A greater proportion of children exhibited compensation by IA than adults in J0 (86.6% vs. 66.0%, p < 0.0001) and J45 components (55.5% vs. 41.7%, p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: Chinese children in Hong Kong exhibit a higher prevalence of RA and CA than in other cities. Children displayed a greater compensation by IA than adults, suggesting an age-related attenuation of IA compensation. IA is associated with myopic traits.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Compensation by internal astigmatism in children and adults.
A The distribution of compensation factors (CF) in children and adults. B The proportion of compensation by internal astigmatism (IA) in CF0 and CF45 across age in children and adults.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. The distribution of mean Internal Astigmatism (IA) and mean Lens Power (LP) in children and adults.
Both the mean IA and mean LP decreased with age in children. This is in contrast to the mean LP which decreased with age while the mean IA increased with age in adults.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. The distribution of mean CA, RA, IA and spherical equivalent in children and adults.
Increasing ametropia was associated with greater magnitudes of mean RA and CA observed in both children and adults. IA was positively associated with SE and spherical value in both children and adults.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

References

    1. Hashemi H, Fotouhi A, Yekta A, Pakzad R, Ostadimoghaddam H, Khabazkhoob M. Global and regional estimates of prevalence of refractive errors: systematic review and meta-analysis. J Curr Ophthalmol. 2018;30:3–22. doi: 10.1016/j.joco.2017.08.009. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pascual M, Huang J, Maguire MG, Kulp MT, Quinn GE, Ciner E, et al. Risk factors for amblyopia in the vision in preschoolers study. Ophthalmology. 2014;121:622–629 e621. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2013.08.040. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Margines JB, Huang C, Young A, Mehravaran S, Yu F, Mondino BJ, et al. Refractive errors and amblyopia among children screened by the UCLA Preschool Vision Program in Los Angeles County. Am J Ophthalmol. 2020;210:78–85. doi: 10.1016/j.ajo.2019.10.013. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Harvey EM. Development and treatment of astigmatism-related amblyopia. Optom Vis Sci. 2009;86:634–639. doi: 10.1097/OPX.0b013e3181a6165f. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cakir B, Aksoy NO, Ozmen S, Bursali O, Celik E, Horozoglu F. Corneal topography, anterior segment and high-order aberration assessments in children with ≥2 diopter astigmatism. Int Ophthalmol 2020;40:1461–1467. - PubMed