Prevalence of corneal astigmatism before cataract surgery in Indian population

The purpose of the study was to assess the prevalence of corneal astigmatism before cataract surgery in Indian population. The setting of this study was at the Sant Sarwan Dass Charitable Eye Hospital, Jalandhar, India. This is a clinic-based retrospective study. Charts of patients who underwent cataract surgery over a two-year period were retrospectively reviewed, and preoperative keratometric measurements were collected and analyzed. The mean age of 2316 patients (2502 eyes) was 59.54 ± 10.96 years. The corneal astigmatism was less than 1.0 Dioptre (D) in 796 eyes (59.37 %), 1.0-1.99 D in 716 eyes (28.62 %), 2.0-2.99 D in 187 eyes (7.47 %) and more than 3.0 D in 114 eyes (4.56 %). The mean corneal astigmatism was 1.04 ± 1.04 D and showed a gradual increase with age after the fourth decade. The astigmatism was with-the-rule in 709 (28.34 %), against-the-rule in 1298 (51.88 %), and oblique in 598 (23.9 %) eyes. There was a shift in astigmatism from with-the-rule to against-the-rule with increase in age. Over 40 % of the Indian patients undergoing cataract surgery have more than 1.0 D of corneal astigmatism and may benefit from the use of toric intraocular lenses. These data can be useful in planning to make this technology available for the patients.