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Normative Pentacam anterior and posterior corneal elevation measurements: effects of age, sex, axial length and white-to-white

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Abstract

Purpose

To provide normal corneal elevation data for a large Caucasian population and to determine the impacts on these data of age, sex, axial length (AXL) and horizontal white-to-white (WW).

Setting

Centro Internacional de Oftalmología Avanzada, Madrid, Spain.

Design

Retrospective, cross-sectional, observational.

Methods

In this retrospective, cross-sectional, observational study, anterior and posterior corneal elevations were measured in 789 right eyes of subjects with no ocular disease at the thinnest corneal location in relation to a fixed 8-mm best-fit sphere using the Pentacam, and AXL and WW were measured with the IOLMaster. A multiple linear regression model was used to assess the effects of age, sex, AXL and WW on the elevation data.

Results

Mean subject age was 50.5 ± 15 years (range 17–93 years); 64% were women. Mean anterior and posterior corneal elevations were 1.99 ± 1.75 µm (− 7 to 10 µm) and 7.70 ± 5.7 µm (− 6 to 28 µm). Anterior corneal elevations were higher by 0.165 μm and 0.033 μm for every mm reduction in AXL and every year reduction in age, respectively. Sex and WW were not significant predictors of anterior elevations (R2 = 7.7%). Posterior corneal elevation increased by 0.186 μm/year of age, 0.707 μm/mm reduction in WW and 0.819 μm/mm reduction in AXL. This variable was also 0.866 μm greater in men (R2 = 34.4%).

Conclusion

Anterior corneal elevations decrease with age and are higher for shorter AXL but are not influenced by sex or WW. Posterior corneal elevations increase with age, decreasing AXL, decreasing WW and are higher in men.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Internacional de Oftalmología Avanzada, c/Godofredo Ortega y Muñoz 22, 06011, Badajoz, Spain

    Ignacio Almorín-Fernández-Vigo, Inés Sánchez-Guillén & Ana Macarro-Merino

  2. Centro Internacional de Oftalmología Avanzada, Madrid, Spain

    José I. Fernández-Vigo, Ana Macarro-Merino, Bachar Kudsieh, Cristina Fernández-Vigo & José A. Fernández-Vigo

  3. Department of Ophthalmology, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain

    José I. Fernández-Vigo

  4. Department of Ophthalmology, Hospital Puerta de Hierro, Madrid, Spain

    Bachar Kudsieh

  5. School of Medicine, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain

    José A. Fernández-Vigo

Authors
  1. Ignacio Almorín-Fernández-Vigo
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  2. Inés Sánchez-Guillén
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  3. José I. Fernández-Vigo
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  4. Ana Macarro-Merino
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  6. Cristina Fernández-Vigo
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  7. José A. Fernández-Vigo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ignacio Almorín-Fernández-Vigo.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Almorín-Fernández-Vigo, I., Sánchez-Guillén, I., Fernández-Vigo, J.I. et al. Normative Pentacam anterior and posterior corneal elevation measurements: effects of age, sex, axial length and white-to-white. Int Ophthalmol 39, 1955–1963 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-018-1028-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-018-1028-6

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