Rania E. MD Gad

Purpose: To identify sociodemographic factors as predictors of keratoconus severity, progression, disease outcomes, and appropriate management in a tertiary care ophthalmology institute in the New York City metropolitan area. Methods: This is a retrospective chart review. Patients with keratoconus presenting at a tertiary eye institute in an urban setting seen between 2015 and 2022 were included. Sociodemographic data including age, sex, race, ethnicity, income derived from zip code, insurance coverage, and preferred language were recorded. These sociodemographic factors were analyzed as possible predictors of keratoconus severity at presentation (Amsler–Krumeich grades III and IV): patients presenting with acute hydrops, patients receiving corneal cross-linking or corneal transplant, patients showing 1 or more diopters of increase of Kmax during their follow-up, and patients having longer time between the provider's recommendation of corneal cross-linking and the time of the procedure. Results: The retrospective review included 634 patients with a clinical diagnosis of keratoconus. Factors associated with severe keratoconus at presentation in the multivariate analysis were non-White (P < 0.001), lowest income (Q1) (P = 0.018), Q2 income (P = 0.012), and having Medicaid/Medicare coverage (P = 0.021). Medicaid/Medicare coverage was the only factor associated with acute hydrops (P < 0.001), and younger age was the only factor associated with disease progression (P < 0.001). Younger patients and patients with commercial insurance coverage were more likely to receive corneal collagen cross-linking (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively), whereas patients with Medicaid/Medicare coverage, lowest income, and non-White race were more likely to receive corneal transplantation (P = 0.012, P = 0.062, and P = 0.028, respectively). Medicaid/Medicare was the only factor associated with delay in receiving corneal collagen cross-linking (P = 0.013). Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that there are sociodemographic predictors of keratoconus disease severity, progression, and the type and the time of treatment the patients received. This confirms eye health disparities among patients with keratoconus.

Purpose of the Study: To compare visual outcome, higher order aberrations (HOAs) of topography guided and Q value adjusted ablation in the fellow eye of patients undergoing photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) for the correction of myopia and myopic astigmatism. Methods: Prospective randomized controlled interventional clinical study. The eyes of 52 patients undergoing PRK for myopia and astigmatism were included, that is, 104 eyes in total. In each patient, eyes were randomly allocated to group I: one eye received topography guided PRK using Contoura ablation software, or group II: the other eye received Q value adjusted PRK using Custom Q ablation software. Follow-Up: Six months. Results: At the end of 6 months, LogMAR UDVA was − 0.04 ± 0.12 and − 0.05 ± 0.11 (p = 0.688), while LogMAR CDVA was − 0.06 ± 0.09 and − 0.06 ± 0.1 in group I and group II, respectively (p = 0.972). Both groups showed a progressive oblate shift with time. This oblate shift was insignificantly less in group I by Topolyzer at 6mm, 15° and 30° at 6 months (p = 0.102, p = 0.138, p = 0.245, respectively). Topolyzer identified a significant difference between the change in coma and trefoil in both groups at 6 months (p< 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). This was caused by the significant worsening of coma in group II (p< 0.001) and the significant improvement of trefoil in group I (p = 0.007). No significant difference was found between groups in the change of ISV or ABR (p = 0.955 and 0.982, respectively). Ablation depth is a significant predictor of ΔQ at 6mm, 15° and 30° (p = 0.009, 0.039 and 0, respectively). No significant difference was found in the Strehl ratio or contrast sensitivity, although they were insignificantly better in group I (p = 0.785 and p = 0.745, respectively). Conclusion: TG PRK and CQ PRK yielded similar results regarding UDVA, CDVA, MRSE, safety, predictability and contrast sensitivity. Both groups showed a progressive oblate shift, which was less in the TG group but the difference was statistically insignificant. TG PRK showed significantly improved trefoil HOA as compared to CQ PRK.