Ethnic differences should be considered when assessing anterior chamber depth in a candidate for cataract surgery.
Ethnic differences should be considered when assessing anterior chamber depth in a candidate for cataract surgery. Photo: Jared Staats, OD. Click image to enlarge.

To better understand the impact of ethnicity on ocular biometric parameters, researchers recently compared Hispanic and non-Hispanic white adult patients undergoing cataract surgery. The data demonstrated a significant difference between the anterior chamber depth of the two groups.

The study included Hispanic (n=219) and non-Hispanic white (n=214) adults receiving surgery for senile cataract. Of the included patients, 66.7% were women. While sex distribution was similar between the two groups, the researchers reported that Hispanic patients were younger compared with non-Hispanic patients. Between the two cohorts, the researchers compared mean keratometry, corneal astigmatism, anterior chamber depth, lens thickness, vitreous length, axial length, white-to-white diameter and emmetropic intraocular lens power.

Data revealed that, in biometric values, anterior chamber depth was significantly lower among Hispanic vs. non-Hispanic patients. This statistically significant difference remained after adjusting for age and sex. The study authors observed no significant differences in the other ocular parameters measured.

“We found that in candidates for cataract surgery, Hispanic whites had a significantly shorter anterior chamber depth compared with non-Hispanic whites. The difference was more noticeable in women,” the study authors noted. “Such an ethnical difference in anterior chamber depth should be considered when performing cataract and corneal surgeries as this ethnic difference may be associated with a higher risk of intraoperative complications such as corneal endothelial cell loss.”

They concluded that further work is needed to determine the clinical significance of this finding and the potential impact it could have on ocular diseases or surgical complications for this group of patients.

Lam BC, Weiss M, Jing F, et al. Comparison of ocular biometric parameters between Hispanic and non-Hispanic ethnicities in white adults undergoing cataract surgery. Eye Contact Lens. 2022. [Epub ahead of print].