Central Macular Thickness in Children with Myopia, Emmetropia, and Hyperopia: An Optical Coherence Tomography Study

PURPOSE To investigate the central macular thickness (CMT) in myopic, emmetropic, and hyperopic Chinese children using Optical Coherence Tomography. METHODS 168 right eyes of Chinese subjects aged 4-18 were divided into 3 groups based on their postcycloplegic spherical equivalent: myopes (<-1.0 D); emmetropes (≥-1.0 to ≤+1.0 D); and hyperopes (>+1.0 D) and the CMT was compared before/after age adjustment. The CMT was correlated with age, axial length, and peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL). RESULTS The mean CMT was 274.9 ± 50.3 μm and the mean population age was 7.6 ± 3.3 years. The CMT was thickest in the myopes (283.3 ± 57.3 μm, n = 56), followed by the hyperopes (266.2 ± 55.31 μm, n = 60) and then emmetropes (259.8 ± 28.7 μm, n = 52) (all P < 0.0001). When adjusted for age, myopes had a thicker CMT than the other 2 groups (all P < 0.0001) but there was no CMT difference between the emmetropes and hyperopes (P > 0.05). There was no significant correlation between CMT with age, axial length, or peripapillary RNFL (all P ≥ 0.2). CONCLUSION Chinese children with myopia had a thicker CMT than those with emmetropia or hyperopia. There was no correlation of the CMT with age, axial length, or peripapillary RNFL thickness.