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Near work induces more higher-order aberrations in myopes

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DENVER – Near work causes more higher-order aberrations (HOA) in myopes than in emmetropes, according to a poster presented here at the American Academy of Optometry meeting. The study, authored by Wendy Kok, OD, and colleagues also found that changes in HOA do not appear to be related to intraocular pressure (IOP) or central corneal thickness (CCT).

The researchers sought to assess changes in HOA, CCT and IOP after an hour of reading. For this study, 20 myopes with a mean prescription of -2.99 +/-1.70 D and 18 emmetropes with a mean prescription of +0.17 +/-0.42 D between the ages of 18 and 35 were enrolled in the study. Measurements of refractive error (Grand Seiko WR-5100K Autorefractor), corneal aberrations (Humphrey Corneal Topographer) central corneal thickness (Oculus Pentacam) and IOP (Reichert non-contact tonometer) were taken of the right eye before and after 1 hour of reading.

Differences in HOA, CCT and IOP were calculated between baseline and after reading, and then compared between myopes and emmetropes.

The results found that the RMS of HOA significantly increased (P = 0.040) by 0.04 +/-0.08 µm (mean +/-SD) after 1 hour of reading. The difference between myopes (0.06 +/-0.08 µm) and emmetropes (0.01 +/-0.07 µm) approached significance (P = 0.0053). Primary vertical coma became significantly more negative by 0.06 +/-0.007 µm (P <0.001) after an hour of reading. Significant differences (P = 0.0019) were found between myopes (-0.08 +/-0.09 µm) and emmetropes (-0.03 +/-0.004 µm) in primary vertical coma. CCT after an hour of reading decreased by 3.6 µm (P = 0.005), with 28/38 (75%) subjects showing a decrease; there was no significant difference between emmetropes and myopes. IOP after reading decreased by 1.1 mm Hg (P = 0.002), with 30 out of 38 (79%) subjects showing a decrease; again, there was no significant difference between emmetropes and myopes.

The correlation of HOA changes and with baseline CCT was low (r = 0.065) and did not differ between myopes and emmetropes. Similarly, the association between HOA changes with baseline IOP was low (r = -0.096) and did not differ between the two groups.