Monochromatic Aberrations, Vision and Refractive Error in Healthy Young Adults

Abstract

Purpose: Understanding of monochromatic aberrations and their associations with visual acuity and refractive error in a normal population is crucial for applying customized intraocular lenses and laser refractive surgery. In this study, we established the distribution of monochromatic aberrations from a large cohort of healthy young adults and investigated association of monochromatic aberrations with visual acuity and refractive error.

Methods: Ophthalmic examination was conducted on the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study at 20 years of age. Monochromatic aberrations were measured in 2039 eyes of 1040 participants using Zywave II Wavefront Aberrometer (Bausch & Lomb, Inc., Rochester, NY) on natural pupils in a dark room. Best-corrected logMAR visual acuity (BCVA) was measured monocularly in normal room illumination. Cycloplegic autorefraction was performed.

Results: Data from 1007 right eyes were analysed. Median (IQR) BCVA and spherical equivalent were -0.06 (-0.10, 0) and +0.25 (-0.38, 0.63) diopters (D), respectively. The median (IQR) 6mm higher order aberrations (HOA) was 0.58 (0.44, 0.79) μm. Coma-like aberrations, third, fourth and fifth HOAs were significantly different between individuals with BCVA equal to or better than 6/4.8 and worse than 6/4.8 Snellen score. Fourth order aberrations (Z4-4 p=0.024, Z4-2 p=0.029) and second order aberrations (Z20<0.001) differed significantly between myopic, emmetropic and hypermetropic eyes. Individuals with higher myopia had slightly higher total HOAs.

Conclusions: HOAs in this population were marginally higher than previously reported values. Our findings confirm that there is a difference in monochromatic aberrations among different vision and refractive groups. Results of this study will benefit decision-making processes in the clinical setting.

Keywords: 677 refractive error development • 754 visual acuity