Analysis of components of total astigmatism in infants and young children

The aim of this study is to examine and analyze the contribution of corneal and lenticular components of total astigmatism (TA) in infants and young children and to determine whether there is any compensation for astigmatism by the lenticular component or not. The study was conducted on 614 eyes of 307 infants and young children. Cycloplegic refraction and keratometric measures using the Hand-held Autokeratometer (Nidek Co. Ltd., Hiroishi, Japan) were done for the study group under general anesthesia in Paediatric Ophthalmology Center, Sohag City, Egypt. We divided the sample into high astigmats (total cylinder ≥ 1.00 D; mean, 1.99 ± 0.89 D; n = 431 eyes; 70 %) and normal astigmats (total cylinder ≤ 0.75 D; mean, 0.55 ± 0.22 D; n = 183; 30 %). The prevalence of corneal astigmatism (CA) ≥ 1.00 D was (73 %), any degree of lenticular astigmatism (LA) was (85 %), (LA > 0.25 D = 72 %) TA was predominantly with the rule (n = 499 eyes, 81 %). Eyes with against the rule astigmatism were (n = 33 eyes, 5.3 %) and eyes with oblique astigmatism were (n = 82 eyes; 13.3 %). Gender or age differences in TA, CA, LA, or type of astigmatism were not significant. The prevalence of astigmatism found in this population of newlyborn infants and young children was relatively high, primarily corneal, and WTR astigmatism with high prevalence of oblique astigmatism. LA was much less than previous reports (mean = -0.0044 D), associated with more hyperopic eyes and eyes with high TA. The data suggest that a compensatory process exists between CA and LA to decrease the amount of TA.