Intraocular Pressure and Myopia Progression, Axial Length Elongation in Rural Chinese Children

This study reported the relationship between intraocular pressure (IOP) and myopia progression, which helps to understand more comprehensively whether IOP can be an important reference factor to intervene in the progression of myopia.

This study aimed to investigate the association between IOP and myopia progression as well as axial length elongation in rural Chinese children.

A total of 598 (598 of 878 [68.1%]) children (6 to 17 years) from the baseline Handan Offspring Myopia Study who completed a 3.5-year follow-up vision examination were included. Ocular examinations at both visits included cycloplegic autorefraction, IOP, and axial length measurements.

Children with myopia had the highest baseline IOP of the three refractive groups (14.13 ± 1.31, 13.78 ± 1.71, and 13.59 ± 1.64 mmHg in myopes, emmetropes, and hyperopes, respectively, P = .002). However, IOPs showed no significant difference between eyes with or without newly developed myopia (13.63 ± 1.68 vs. 13.89 ± 1.68, P = .16), with or without faster myopia progression (13.75 ± 1.61 vs. 13.86 ± 1.63, P = .46), or with axial length elongation (13.80 ± 1.61 vs. 13.76 ± 1.64, P = .80). The multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that neither baseline refractive error ( β = -0.082, P = .13) nor baseline axial length ( β = -0.156, P = .08) was associated with baseline IOP.

Myopic eyes have slightly higher IOP compared with emmetropic and hyperopic eyes, although it was not clinically significant. However, IOP was not found to be associated with either myopia progression or axial length elongation in this cohort sample of rural Chinese children.