title: [Refractional astigmatism prevalence and its relationship with grating acuity in children 2 to 36 months of age].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate refractional astigmatism prevalence and its relationship with grating acuity in a cohort of non-verbal children.
  
  
  METHODS
  482 normal children, aged from 2 to 36 months, were submitted to ophthalmological examination. Fourteen subjects were excluded due to ocular disease and the sample remained with 468 subjects (936 eyes); 230 (49%) males e 238 (51%) females. Grating acuity was assessed binocularly and monocularly with Teller acuity cards. All children underwent eye examination including cycloplegic retinoscopy and fundus by indirect ophthalmoscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Astigmatism was found in 222 (47.43%) of the children, with the hyperopic and with the rule types most frequently found in all ages. Concerning magnitude, this condition was equal or greater than 1.00 cylindric diopter in 24.35% of the children; equal or greater than 2.00 cylindric diopter in 5.55%; lower than 1.00 in 26.92% and between 1.00 and 2.00 in 18.73%. Grating acuity was normal in 219 of the subjects, despite magnitude, type and orientation of astigmatism.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Visual acuity assessed by the acuity card procedure was not influenced by astigmatism.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. lipener@uol.com.br
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lipener
authors.forename: Emilio de Haro
authors.initials: Ede H
authors.lastname: Munoz
authors.forename: José Belmiro de Castro
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berezovsky
authors.forename: Solange Rios
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Salomão
authors.forename: Dora Fix
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Ventura
mesh_terms: D001251:Astigmatism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D015351:Vision Screening; D014792:Visual Acuity