A STUDY OF CATARACT IN RELATION TO ANATOMICAL DIMENSIONS AND REFRACTIVITY OF THE EYE

Surabhi Sharma, Yogesh Gupta, R R Sukul, Abdul Waris, Gargi Nagpal,
Adil Asghar*

ABSTRACT

Aims and objectives:- The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between type of cataract and anatomical dimensions i.e., axial length and refractivity of the eye, also to find out relationship between cataract and its type with that of axial length, and relationship between different type of refractive errors and cataract were included in the study. Eye examinations included detailed torch light examination of the patient’s eyes, cycloplegic refraction and retinoscopy, slit lamp biomicroscopy, A-scan ultrasonography and keratometry. Cataract is graded on the basis of Lens Opacification Classification System II. Stastical analysis:- Statisical analysis was carried out using student ‘t’ test and data was analysed using SPSS version 17 software programme. Observations:- 150 subjects were studied with 84 females and 66 males. Mean age of the patients was 67.8 + 9.5 years. 66 eyes out of 154 had posterior subcapsular cataract, making it most common cataract combination in the study. Out of 154 eyes, 4 eyes were hypermetropic, 139 were emmetropic and 11 eyes were myopic. Out of 11 myopic eyes, 4 had nuclear with posterior sub capsular cataract, 4 had nuclear cataract alone and rest 3 had cortical with nuclear with posterior sub capsular cataract. The grade of nuclear cataract in this study increased with increasing age. Conclusions:- The most common type of cataract in elderly age group is nuclear sclerosis. The mean refractive error in terms of spherical equivalent in nuclear cataract was -2.35 D, and -1.76 D in non nuclear cataract. In the myopic group, the most common type of cataract is nuclear type. Nuclear cataract leads to a myopic shift in refraction. A positive correlation was found between spherical equivalent and axial length, axial length and nuclear opalescence and, age and nuclear opalescence. A negative correlation was found between spherical equivalent and nuclear opalescence, and age and spherical equivalent.

Keywords: cataract, axial length, refractive error, spherical equivalent, nuclear opalescence.