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Older age as risk factor for deviation from emmetropia in pseudophakia
G Nuzzi1, C Cantù, M A De Giovanni
1Institute of Ophthalmology, University of Parma, Italy. nuzzi@unipr.it
Purpose:
To find risk factors for deviation from emmetropia after cataract surgery in clinical practice.
Methods:
We evaluated the refractive outcome in 106 patients who had underone phacoemulsification and in-the-bag IOL placement 115 +/- 10 days after surgery. Postoperative optical correction and refractive error (diopters of spherical equivalent--ED) were related to age and sex, pre-operative axial length and keratometric diopter power, and operative incision technique.
Results:
Emmetropia was achieved in 15% of cases; 65% of eyes needed a myopic correction, averaging = 0.46 +/- 0.91 ED. The refractive error was 0.74 +/- 0.61 ED (< or = 1 ED in 77% of cases, < or = 2 ED in 97%). Both optical correction and refractive error were correlated to older age at the time of surgery (p=0.002 and p=0.001, respectively). Astigmatism appeared greater in clear-cornea incision than in limbar incision cases (p=0.05).
Conclusions:
The higher refractive error in patients aged over 73 years suggests that age may be a risk factor for deviation from emmetropia after cataract surgery.