Effect of Gender, Age, and Ocular and Growth-Related Factors on Corneal Epithelial and Stromal Thickness in Children.

Wook Kyum Kim,Sun Woong Kim,Jeongseo Yoo,Ik Hee Ryu

doi:10.3390/jcm9123849

Wook Kyum Kim, Sun Woong Kim + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9123849

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Abstract

Data on corneal epithelial and stromal thickness in school-aged children in relation to gender, age, and ocular and growth parameters are limited. In this retrospective study, we analyzed corneal epithelial and stromal thickness measured with the RTVue system (Optovue, Inc., Fremont, CA, USA) in 122 male and 201 female Korean children (mean age 9.59 ± 2.18 years) with myopia. We used simple and multiple regression analysis to establish the relationships between gender, age, refractive status, axial length, anterior chamber depth (ACD), corneal refractive power, white-to-white corneal diameter (WTW), height, and body weight. Age, body weight, height, and central corneal thickness were positively associated with corneal epithelial thickness, whereas WTW was negatively associated. The multiple regression analysis showed corneal epithelial thickness was affected by sex, body weight, WTW, and central corneal thickness (CCT), while stromal thickness was influenced by age, sex, and WTW. Both corneal epithelial and stromal thickness were significantly greater in male than in female children and were affected by growth. Neither corneal epithelial nor stromal thickness were associated with the severity of myopia, corneal refractive power, or axial length.

Highlights

The measurement of corneal thickness plays a supportive role in various clinical decisions, such as determining patients’ eligibility for refractive surgery, the diagnosis of keratoconus or corneal edema, and providing essential references in the assessment of intraocular pressure in patients with glaucoma [1,2,3,4]
The mean K was greater, and the corneal epithelial and stromal thickness was less in female than those in male children (Table 1)
Our study presents corneal epithelial thickness profiles for Korean children aged 6 to 17 years

Summary

Introduction

The measurement of corneal thickness plays a supportive role in various clinical decisions, such as determining patients’ eligibility for refractive surgery, the diagnosis of keratoconus or corneal edema, and providing essential references in the assessment of intraocular pressure in patients with glaucoma [1,2,3,4]. Recent developments in topographic epithelial thickness mapping, using optical coherence tomography, have drawn increasing attention and suggest many important clinical applications. These developments enable the rapid measurement of corneal epithelial thickness in daily routine with good repeatability but without contact. Corneal epithelial thickness profiles could be useful in school-aged children because central epithelial thinning has been associated with the required magnitude of myopia correction in orthokeratology [17,18,19]. Corneal epithelial thickness maps taken from normal children might provide references to identify abnormal values, help to assess the eligibility, and predict the response to orthokeratology

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