Objective:

Describe the characteristics of astigmatism in children.

Methods:

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted of patients cared for at the Pediatric Ophthalmology Service of Ramón Pando Ferrer Cuban Institute of Ophthalmology from June 2016 to December 2017. The sample was 61 children (122 eyes) with astigmatism who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The study variables were age, sex, type of astigmatism, symptoms, visual acuity with and without correction, refractive cylinder, topographic cylinder and spherical equivalent.

Results:

Mixed astigmatism was the most relevant type in all age groups, whereas sex was not significant. The symptom most frequently reported was difficulty to see up close: 33 patients (54.9 %) in the 6-9 years age group. The lowest visual acuity mean was 0.22 for compound myopic astigmatism, whereas the best corrected visual acuity corresponded to simple myopic astigmatism (0.94). Mean refractive and topographic cylinder was 2.71 and 2.45 diopters, respectively. Topographic and refractive values were significantly different in compound myopic and mixed astigmatism (p= 0.002). The spherical equivalents closest to emmetropia (-0.5 to 0.5) exhibited the highest mean visual acuity without correction.

Conclusions:

Compound myopic astigmatism affects uncorrected visual acuity more markedly and presents differences between the refractive and the topographic cylinder just like mixed astigmatism.

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