Abstract
PurposeTo describe corneal astigmatism in the UK Biobank population and to look for associations with other biometric variables and socio-demographic factors.MethodsThis analysis included a subsample of 107,452 participants of the UK Biobank study who underwent an enhanced ophthalmic examination including autorefractor keratometry (Tomey RC 5000, Tomey Corp., Nagoya, Japan). Participants were recruited from across the United Kingdom between 2006 and 2010, and all were between 40 to 69 years. After quality control and applying relevant exclusions, data on corneal astigmatism on 83,751 participants were included for analysis. Potential associations were tested through univariable regression and significant parameters carried forward for multivariable analysis.ResultsIn univariable analysis, the characteristics significantly associated with higher corneal astigmatism (P<0.001), by order of magnitude were, female gender, white ethnicity, lighter skin colour, use of UV protection, lower alcohol intake, lower corneal-compensated intraocular pressure (ccIOP), older age at completion of education, younger age, higher Townsend deprivation index, lower height and lower systolic blood pressure. After inclusion in the multivariable analysis, gender, skin colour, alcohol intake, age at completion of full-time education, ccIOP, age and Townsend deprivation score remained significant (all P<0.001). Increased corneal astigmatism was also found to be significantly associated with amblyopia or strabismus.ConclusionsThis analysis confirms previous associations with astigmatism such as younger age and female gender, and identified novel risk factors including lighter skin colour, lower alcohol intake, later age having completed full time education later, lower ccIOP and higher Townsend deprivation index. Further research is needed to investigate these novel associations.
Highlights
Uncorrected refractive error is the leading cause of moderate to severe visual impairment in all age groups globally [1,2]
Since we found that corneal astigmatism measurements were slightly asymmetric, with left eye having on average higher corneal astigmatism than right eye (Fig A in S1 File) as previously reported by Cumberland et al [17], we repeated statistical analysis in both eyes and only reported parameters which were consistently significantly associated in both eyes
After stratification of participants by age group and gender, corneal astigmatism was found to decrease with age and to be on average higher in females than in males across age groups in the UK Biobank (UKBB) (Table 2)
Summary
Uncorrected refractive error is the leading cause of moderate to severe visual impairment in all age groups globally [1,2]. Data on the prevalence and severity of corneal astigmatism is typically obtained from case series of patients undergoing cataract surgery [9,10,11,12], with limited data from population based cross-sectional studies or large cohort studies [13]. The UK Biobank (UKBB) study[14,15,16] recruited over 500,000 men and women aged 40 to 69 years between 2006–2010 from the general population. The aim of our analysis is to describe corneal astigmatism and derived variables in the UKBB population, to look for associations with other biometric variables, socio-demographic factors, and eye conditions
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