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African American, Hispanic, Asian children at increased risk of astigmatism, study finds
Researchers found that African American, Hispanic and Asian preschoolers were more likely to have astigmatism than non-Hispanic white children.
Huang and colleagues analyzed ocular and demographic risk factors in 3- to 5-year-olds in five geographic areas and evaluated their correlation with astigmatism, as detailed in the Optometry and Vision Science study.
The 4,040 participants underwent comprehensive eye examinations, which included monocular visual acuity testing, cover testing and cycloplegic retinoscopy, according to the study. Researchers defined astigmatism as at least +1.5 D of cylinder in either eye as measured with cycloplegic refraction.
Results showed that 17% of the participants presented with astigmatism. African American children (17.4%), Hispanic children (22.2%) and Asian children (18.2%) were more likely to have astigmatism than non-Hispanic white children (11.4%). American Indian children had an even lower risk with 7.9% with astigmatism.
They also showed that refractive error was associated with astigmatism; 45.1% of participants with myopia and 20.6% of participants with hyperopia had astigmatism.
"Among Head Start preschoolers, Hispanic, African American, and Asian race as well as myopic and hyperopic refractive error were associated with an increased risk of astigmatism, consistent with findings from the population-based Multi-ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease Study and the Baltimore Pediatric Eye Disease Study," the authors concluded. "American Indian children had lower risk of astigmatism.
"A few limitations in the analyses should be acknowledged," they wrote. "First, all the VIP Study participants were enrolled from Head Start programs, a national, comprehensive child development program that serves low-income preschool children and families, and the children with vision disorders were overrepresented. It is uncertain whether these findings can therefore be generalized to a wider population of preschool children. However, the results from this study are consistent with findings from population-based studies.
“Second, because the VIP Study was not originally designed to evaluate the risk factors of astigmatism,” they continued, “the risk factors collected in the VIP Study were not comprehensive. Only a few demographic characteristics and ocular risk factors were included."
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Optom Vis Sci. 2014;doi:10.1097/OPX.0000000000000242.