Frequency of amount and axis of astigmatism in subjects of Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Objective: to assess the frequency of amount and axis of astigmatism with respect to age and gender. methods: the prospective, observational study was carried out from september 2009 to january 2010 at armed forces institute of ophthalmology, rawalpindi. patients from 5-70 years of age were included from both genders with no previous history of eye abnormality, surgery or eye pathology. an auto refractor-keratometre was used for measurement. descriptive statistics were used to analyse data on spss 15. results: among the total 288 patients, with-the-rule astigmatism (n=21; 55%) had greater frequency in the 26-35 years sub-group. in terms of gender, 88 (48%); against-the-rule in 81 (44%); and oblique astigmatism in 14 (7.6%). in females, with-the-rule astigmatism was found in 52 (50%); against-the-rule in 36 (34.2%); and oblique in 17 (16%). the frequency of astigmatism >0.25 ranged from 0.8% (n=1) to 74% (n=28) across all age groups. the amount of astigmatism which was noted to be the most common and prominent in the sample was <1d. conclusion: the amount and axis of astigmatism varied within the age sub-groups and within the gender.