Relationships between ocular dimensions and adult stature among participants in the Reykjavik Eye Study

To examine the relationships between adult stature, age and ocular dimensions in a large homogenous, white population.

We used the national population census for Reykjavik to select a random sample of adults aged 50 years or older. A total of 846 persons were examined. Scheimpflug images were used to measure anterior chamber depth. Ultrasound was used to measure axial length, lens thickness and vitreous chamber depth. An autorefracto-keratometer was used to measure autorefractive and keratometric values, including the radius of the corneal curvature. Stereo fundus photographs were taken of the optic disc and measurements of the disc diameters were made using computer software.

Height correlated positively with axial length in the multivariate model (B = 0.020, 95% CI 0.006-0.034, p < 0.01). Both age and height showed significant correlations with vitreous chamber depth, where the correlation with age was negative (B = - 0.016, 95% CI - 0.006 to - 0.025, p < 0.005) and the correlation with height was positive (B = 0.019, 95% CI 0.005-0.034, p < 0.01). Height also showed a positive correlation with the radius of the corneal curvature (B = 0.008, 95% CI 0.004-0.011, p < 0.001). Anterior chamber depth had a negative correlation with age (B = - 0.013, 95% CI - 0.010 to - 0.016, p < 0.001), whereas lens thickness had a significant positive correlation with age (B = 0.019, 95% CI 0.016-0.023, p < 0.001). We found a significant negative correlation between axial length and refraction/spherical equivalent (r = - 0.595, p < 0.0001).

Our results indicate that there is a significant relationship between height and several ocular dimensions in this adult population and confirms a negative correlation between axial length and refraction.