Abstract
Purpose :
The aim of this study was to investigate the association between changes in peripheral refraction, central refraction, and ocular biometry in Swedish schoolchildren.
Methods :
The right eyes of 120 children (55% females) with a mean age of 12.0 years (SD 2.4) were followed for a period of two years. Cycloplegic central and peripheral refraction were obtained at baseline and final visit with Shin-Nippon NVision-K 5001 autorefractor. The peripheral refraction was performed along the horizontal visual field up to ±30 degrees in 10-degree steps. Refraction was converted into M (SER), J0 and J45 vectors for analyses. Relative peripheral refraction (RPR) was calculated by subtracting the central measurement from each peripheral measurement. Axial length (AL) of the right eye was measured using IOLMaster 500. Simple and multiple linear regression were used to determine relationships between relative peripheral refraction and other relevant variables.
Results :
At the baseline, 56 children had hyperopia, 10 had myopia and 54 were emmetropic. Four emmetropic children became myopic by their final visit. A significant linear regression was found only for the myopic group in both nasal and temporal fields for both SER (nasal: R2 = 0.53, temporal: R2 = 0.58, p < 0.05) and AL (nasal: R2 = 0.47, temporal: R2 = 0.44, p < 0.05). When adjusting for baseline age, SER, and AL, the multiple regression analyses revealed that the baseline RPR M at nasal 30 degrees predicted central refractive error progression (β = −0.74, p = 0.02) but not AL elongation (β = 0.42, p = 0.056) in myopic children.
Conclusions :
Baseline RPR M at the nasal hemifield can predict progression of central refractive error in myopic children. Further investigation is needed to verify if central refraction predicts peripheral refraction in these myopic children.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.