Capacity of straylight and disk halo size to diagnose cataract

To examine the capacity of straylight and disk halo size to diagnose cataract.

Faculty of Optics and Optometry, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.

Prospective study.

Straylight, disk halo radius, and high-contrast corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) measurements were compared between patients with age-related cataract and age-matched normal-sighted control subjects by calculating the area under the curve (AUC) receiver operating characteristic.

Measurements were made in 53 eyes of 53 patients with a mean age of 67.94 years ± 7.11 (SD) and 31 eyes of 31 controls with a mean age 66.06 ± 5.43 years. Significantly worse (P < .001) mean straylight (1.38 ± 0.24 log[s]), mean disk halo radius (2.40 ± 0.18 log minutes of arc [arcmin]), and mean CDVA (0.17 ± 0.11 logMAR) were recorded in the cataract group than in the control group (1.17 ± 0.11 log[s], 2.10 ± 0.16 log arcmin, and 0.08 ± 0.08 logMAR). Significant differences in AUCs were observed for disk halo radius (0.89 ± 0.04) versus straylight (0.77 ± 0.05) (P = .03) and disk halo radius versus CDVA (0.72 ± 0.05) (P = .001). The comparison of disk halo radius versus the discriminant function with input from CDVA and straylight (0.80 ± 0.05) was at the limit of significance only (0.091 ± 0.05, P = .051).

Although all 3 variables discriminated well between normal eyes and eyes with cataract, the disk halo radius showed the best diagnostic capacity.

Neither author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.