Corneal Biomechanical Characteristics and Correlation Analysis in Children With Different Refractive States

Purpose: To investigate the correlation between corneal biomechanical characteristics and refractive status in adolescents aged 5–13 years.

Methods: A cross‐sectional study involved 339 children aged 5–13 with a spherical equivalent (SE) range from −6.00 to +2.00 diopters. Axial length (AL) was measured by IOL Master, corneal biomechanical parameters by Corvis ST, and anterior segment parameters by Pentacam. According to SE of right eye, the subjects were divided into moderate myopia, mild myopia, and emmetropia group. The correlation between AL and SE and corneal biomechanical parameters was analyzed. The corneal biomechanical parameters of the three groups were also compared.

Results: The A2V value in the moderate myopia group was significantly lower than that in both the mild group and emmetropia group (p < 0.001). PD in the moderate group was higher than that in the mild group (p < 0.05), while PD in mild myopia was higher than that in emmetropia (p < 0.05). The SSI in the emmetropia group was significantly higher than that in the other two groups (all p < 0.001), and the SSI in the mild group was higher than that in the moderate group (p < 0.01). The A2V value in the 11–13 years old group was lower than that in the 5–7 years old group (p < 0.001) and 8–10 years old group (p < 0.01). PD in the 11–13 years old group was significantly higher than that in the 8–10 years old group (p < 0.001), and PD in the 8–10 years old group was significantly higher than that in the 5–7 years old group (p < 0.01). The SSI in the 5–7 years old group was significantly higher than that in the 8–10 years old group (p < 0.001), and the SSI in the 8–10 years old group was significantly higher than that in the 11–13 years old group (p < 0.05). AL was positively correlated with PD and negatively correlated with SSI and A2V. SE was positively correlated with A2V and SSI and negatively correlated with PD.

Conclusions: Corneal stiffness seems to decrease with the increase of SE. The changes of SSI, PD, and A2V were statistically significant and can be predictors of myopia progression in adolescents aged 5–13 years.