Anisometropia of ocular refractive and biometric measures among 66- to 79-year-old female twins.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the prevalence of anisometropia of spherical refraction (AnisoSR), astigmatism (AnisoAST) and spherical equivalent (AnisoSE) and their associations with spherical refraction (SR), refractive astigmatism (AST), spherical equivalent (SE) and interocular differences of ocular biometric parameters among elderly female twins.


METHODS
Refraction of 117 monozygotic (MZ) and 116 dizygotic (DZ) female twin subjects aged 66-79 years was assessed with an auto-refractor (Topcon AT) and controlled by subjective refraction. Corneal refraction, anterior chamber depth and axial length were measured with a Zeiss IOL Master. Participants with eyes operated for cataract or glaucoma were excluded, but the grade of nuclear opacity was not recorded. The associations between the absolute values of AnisoSR, AnisoAST and AnisoSE with SR, AST, SE, corneal refractive power (CR), corneal astigmatism (CAST), anterior chamber depth (ACD) and axial length (AL) and with their interocular differences were calculated. When calculating the interdependencies of the differences, the real and absolute differences between the right and left eye were used.


RESULTS
Means ± standard deviations for AnisoSR, AnisoAST and AnisoSE were 0.67 ± 0.92 D, 0.42 ± 0.41 D and 0.65 ± 0.71 D, respectively. AnisoSR, AnisoAST and AnisoSE >1.0 D were present in 14.7%, 4.2% and 17.7% of cases, respectively. Anisometropia of spherical refraction (AnisoSR), AnisoAST and AnisoSE were higher the more negative the values of SR or SE. Hyperopic ametropia did not increase these anisometropia values. The correlations of AnisoSR and AnisoSE with the absolute values of interocular differences in CR and AL were non-significant. Using the real values of the interocular differences, the respective correlations were significant. The correlation between the real interocular differences in CR and AL was negative (r = -0.258, p < 0.001). Thus, the combined effect of the real interocular differences in CR and AL was a decrease in AnisoSR and AnisoSE (emmetropization).


CONCLUSIONS
Higher AnisoSR and AnisoSE were associated with more myopic refraction and longer AL. Higher AnisoAST was associated with more negative SR and higher AST and CAST. The negative correlation between real interocular differences in CR and AL indicated their influence of emmetropization in AnisoSR and AnisoSE.
Department of Ophthalmology, Central Hospital of Central Finland, Jyväskylä, Finland.|Gerontology Research Center and Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Olavi
O
Pärssinen
Gerontology Research Center and Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Markku
M
Kauppinen
Gerontology Research Center and Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.|Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Institute for Molecular Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
Jaakko
J
Kaprio
Gerontology Research Center and Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Taina
T
Rantanen
D000368:Aged; D015858:Anisometropia / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000867:Anterior Chamber / Q000473:pathology; D001251:Astigmatism / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D058452:Axial Length, Eye / Q000473:pathology; D001699:Biometry; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012029:Refraction, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic
anisoastigmatism; anisometropia; anisometropia of biometric measures; axial length; corneal refraction; elderly; emmetropization; ocular