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Association between choriocapillaris perfusion and axial elongation in children using defocus incorporated multiple segments (DIMS) spectacle lenses

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate choroidal and ocular biological variables that influence axial length (AL) elongation in children wearing defocused incorporated multiple segments (DIMS) spectacle lenses.

Methods

This cohort study included 106 myopic children aged 7–14 years with a 1-year follow-up. Participants were divided into two groups according to the increase in AL in one year: rapid (>0.2 mm) and slow (≤0.2 mm) axial elongation groups. Cycloplegic autorefraction and AL were measured at baseline and after 6 and 12 months. The area of choriocapillaris flow voids (FVs) and choroidal thickness (ChT) at baseline were measured.

Results

Univariate linear regression analysis showed that AL elongation were significantly associated with the FVs area (standardised β = 0.198, P < 0.05) and age (standardised β = −0.201, P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression showed that the FVs area, age, and average K reading were associated with AL elongation. Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that greater degrees of myopia and larger FVs areas were risk factors for rapid axial elongation, while older age, large pupil diameter and steeper cornea were protective factors. In estimating axial elongation, the FVs area alone demonstrated an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.672 (95% CI, 0.569–0.775, P < 0.01), and that of FVs area and other ocular variables was 0.788 (95% CI, 0.697–0.878, P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Larger choriocapillaris FVs area at baseline may help to predict axial elongation in myopic eyes. The association between FVs area and axial elongation should be taken into consideration in further myopic cohort studies.

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Fig. 1: Calculation of the flow void area.
Fig. 2: Linear regression analysis betwee axial elongation, age and flow void.
Fig. 3: ROC Analysis to predict axial elongation.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Capital’s Funds for Health Improvement and Research (No. 202-1G-4083), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 82171092, 81870684), the National Key R&D Program of China (Nos. 2021YFC2702100, 2020YFC2008200).

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XL and JH participated in the conception and design of this work, data acquisition and analysis, literature search and manuscript writing. ZP contributed to data collection and data analysis. SC and LS contributed to data collection, the acquisition of fundus photographs and picture processing of the datasets. YL and MZ contributed to the interpretation of the data and revision of the manuscript for this study. KW contributed to the design of the work, interpretation of the data, and revision of the manuscript for this study. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kai Wang.

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Li, X., Hu, J., Peng, Z. et al. Association between choriocapillaris perfusion and axial elongation in children using defocus incorporated multiple segments (DIMS) spectacle lenses. Eye 37, 3847–3853 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-023-02629-2

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