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. 2023 Jul 12;23(1):313.
doi: 10.1186/s12886-023-03067-0.

Characteristics and influencing factors of corneal higher-order aberrations in patients with cataract

Suowang Zhou  1 , Xu Chen  2   3 , Julio Ortega-Usobiaga  4 , Hansong Zheng  1 , Wenjing Luo  1 , Biyue Tu  1 , Yong Wang  5
Affiliations

Characteristics and influencing factors of corneal higher-order aberrations in patients with cataract

Suowang Zhou et al. BMC Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Purpose: To observe the distribution characteristics of corneal higher-order aberrations (HOAs) in cataract patients, and analyze the relationship of HOAs with patients' age and ocular biometric parameters.

Methods: This retrospective study reviews the patients with cataract in Wuhan Aier Eye Department from January to August 2022. Root mean square (RMS) of the total HOA (tHOA), spherical aberration (SA), coma and trefoil aberration of the anterior cornea at central 4 and 6 mm optic zone were measured by the Wavefront Aberrometer (OPD-Scan III; Nidek Inc, Tokyo, Japan). The biometric parameters including axial length (AL), keratometry (K), central corneal thickness (CCT) and lens thickness (LT) were measured by swept-source coherence laser interferometry (OA-2000; TOMEY Corp, Aichi, Japan). Subgroup analyses and multiple linear regression analyses were used to determine whether HOAs were associated with age and ocular biometric parameters.

Results: A total of 976 patients (976 eyes) were included, averagely aged 65 years. At central 4 and 6 mm optic zone, the mean RMS of tHOA were respectively 0.20 and 0.65 μm, the SA were 0.06 and 0.30 μm, the coma aberration were 0.11 and 0.35 μm, and the trefoil aberration were 0.12 and 0.30 μm. The tHOA decreased with age until 60 years and then started to increase afterwards. The tHOA, coma and trefoil aberration increased with corneal astigmatism. The tHOA, SA, and coma aberration differ among different AL groups, and emmetropes had the smallest tHOA, SA, and coma aberration.

Conclusions: With increasing age, the value of tHOA decrease first and started increasing at 60 years. The trends of corneal HOAs are consistent with corneal low-order aberrations. The values of tHOA, SA and coma aberration were the smallest in emmetropic eyes.

Keywords: Cataract; Higher-order aberration; Ocular biometric parameters; Spherical aberration.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Comparisons of different higher-order aberrations (HOAs) between 4 and 6 mm corneal zone. SA = spherical aberration
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Distribution of corneal higher-order aberrations (HOAs) at central 6 mm optic zone stratified by axial length (AL).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Association of total higher-order aberrations (tHOA) with age. Mean values are indicated by solid lines and 95%; CIs by shade areas
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Distribution of corneal higher-order aberrations (HOAs) at central 6 mm optic zone stratified by corneal astigmatism
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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