Older age as risk factor for deviation from emmetropia in pseudophakia

PURPOSE. TO find risk factors for deviation from emmetropia after cataract surgery in clinical practice. METHODS. We evaluated the refractive outcome in 106 patients who had undero ne phacoemulsification and in-the-bag IOL placement 115 +/- 10 days after s urgery. Postoperative optical correction and refractive error (diopters of spherical equivalent - ED) were related to age and sex, pre-operative axial length and keratometric diopter power, and operative incision technique. RESULTS. Emmetropia was achieved in 15% of cases; 65% of eyes needed a myop ic correction, averaging = 0.46 +/- 0.91 ED. The refractive error was 0.74 +/- 0.61 ED (less than or equal to 1 ED in 77% of cases, less than or equal to 2 ED in 97%). Both optical correction and refractive error were correla ted to older age at the time of surgery (p = 0.002 and p = 0.001, respectiv ely). Astigmatism appeared greater in clear-cornea incision than in limbar incision cases (p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS. The higher refractive error in patients aged over 73 years sug gests that age may be a risk factor for deviation from emmetropia after cat aract surgery.