Lens opacity based modelling of the age-related straylight increase

•The Caucasian model closely resembles the known age-related straylight increase.•The non-Caucasian model deviated considerable from the known increase.•Current normative curves may not be appropriate for non-European populations.

This work studies ethnic and geographical differences in the age-related straylight increase by means of a stochastic model and unpublished lens opacity data of 559 residents of Villa Maria (Argentina), as well as data of 912 Indonesian subjects published previously by Husain et al. For both cohorts the prevalence of each type and grade of lens opacity was determined as a function of age, from which a stochastic model was derived capable of simulating the lens opacity prevalence for both populations. These simulated lens opacity data were then converted to estimated straylight by means of an equation derived from previously recorded data of 107 eyes with varying degrees of cataract. Based on these opacity templates 2500 random sets of subject age and lens opacity data were generated by the stochastic model for each dataset, from which estimated straylight could be calculated. For the Argentinian data the estimated straylight was found to closely resemble the published models for age-related straylight increase. For younger eyes the straylight variation of the model was the same as what was previously published (in both cases ±0.200 log units), which doubled in size for older eyes. For the Indonesian data, however, this age-related straylight increase was found to be fundamentally different from the published age model. This suggests that current normative curves for age-related straylight increase may not always be appropriate for non-European populations, and that the inter-individual straylight variations in young, healthy eyes may possibly be due to variations in lens opacities.