Corneal and refractive error astigmatism in Singaporean schoolchildren: A vector-based Javal's rule

Abstract

Background. Traditional approaches to Javal's rule do not use data from subjects with oblique astigmatism and have not been used to make predictions about subjects with oblique astigmatism. Vector approaches to analyzing refractive error can circumvent these problems. Methods. Subjects were 993 Singaporean schoolchildren. We performed linear regression of refractive error astigmatism on corneal astigmatism, using J 0 vectors to describe with-the-rule and against-the-rule astigmatism and J 45 vectors to describe oblique astigmatism. Results. We obtained the following statistically significant regression relationships: RJ 0 = 0.931 × CJ 0 - 0.276 and RJ 45 = 0.638 × CJ 45 + 0.010, where R and C denote refractive error astigmatism and corneal astigmatism, respectively. Conclusion. Our vector-based Javal's rule gives closer predictions of refractive astigmatism than the original Javal's rule and the simplified Javal's rule and can be applied in cases of corneal oblique astigmatism.