Pattern of wavefront aberrations in Indian children with ametropia

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the distribution of wavefront aberrations in Indian children with refractive errors and to determine the correlation between the degree of refractive error and aberration. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 216 eyes of 108 consecutive children attending the outpatient clinic. Based on refractive error, the children were allocated to five groups: “Emmetropic,” “hyperopic,” “simple astigmatism,” “compound astigmatism,” and “myopic” group. Lower order aberrations (LOAs) and higher order aberrations (HOAs) were analyzed within and between the groups. Results: Mean age of the children was 10.9 years. Of the total 216 eyes, 40 eyes had emmetropia, 52 had simple astigmatism, 54 had compound astigmatism, 43 had myopia, and 27 had hyperopia. In all the groups, increase in spherical equivalent was associated with increase in LOAs of defocus and astigmatism and the root mean square (RMS) of total HOAs. In comparison with the “emmetropic” group, all other groups showed a significant increase in LOAs (P < 0.001) and RMS of total HOAs (P < 0.001), with the “compound astigmatism” group showing higher values. Spherical aberrations were found to be associated with simple astigmatism, compound astigmatism (P = 0.008), and myopia (P = 0.041). Statistical analysis was done using analysis of variance applying Bonferroni correction factor and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Conclusions: Ametropic eyes are associated with HOAs. Indian children were found to have higher values of aberrations when compared to other races. Practitioners may need to factor this while treating children for refractive errors.