Association Between Peripheral Retinal Defocus and Myopia by Multispectral Refraction Topography in Chinese Children

To investigate the association between the peripheral refractive errors of the fundus in different regions and moderate and high myopia.

In this case-control study, 320 children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years were recruited. Peripheral refractive errors were measured using multispectral retinal refractive topography (MRT). Spherical equivalent (SE) and cylinder errors were classified into low, moderate, and high categories based on the magnitude range. Logistic regression was performed to test the factors associated with myopia.

There were 152 participants with low myopia and 168 participants with moderate and high myopia included in the current study. Participants with moderate and high myopia were most likely to be older, with larger axial length (AL), lower SE, less time to watch electronic devices on the weekend, a higher difference between central refractive error and paracentral refractive error from the superior side of the retina (RDV-S), but a smaller difference between the central refractive error and paracentral refractive error from the inferior side of the retina (RDV-I) than those with low myopia (all P <0.05). After logistic analysis, female sex (odds ratio [OR] = 4.14; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.16-7.97, P <0.001), AL (OR = 6.88, 95% CI = 4.33-10.93, P <0.001), and RDV-I (OR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.32-0.86, P = 0.010) were independent factors for moderate and high myopia.

Our study demonstrated that the retina peripheral refraction of the eyes (RDV-I) was associated with moderate and high myopia, and RDV-S was only associated with high myopia.