Correlations between age and ocular aberrations in school children

Abstract

Purpose : To correlate age and high order aberrations in school children.

Methods : A cross-sectional and observational study was carried out in school children of a small village called Aracati, in the northeast region of Brazil. 427 right eyes of 427 children (216 male, 5 to 17 years old) were submitted to aberrometry (i.Profiler®, Zeiss, Germany). One 16 year old patient with congenital cataract was excluded from the protocol due to exam failure. High order aberrations (horizontal coma, oblique trefoil, vertical coma, vertical trefoil, and spherical aberration) were recorded. Spearman’s rank-order correlation (rho) was performed using MedCalc Statistical Software (version 17.9.7).

Results : A statistically significant positive correlation (rho = 0.277, p < 0.0001) was found between age and spherical aberration. No correlation was found between age and the other studied aberrations.

Conclusions : Spherical aberration is the only ocular high-order aberration that can be correlated with age in school children.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.