Naduvilath Thomas, He Xiangui, Saunders Kathryn, Demir Pelsin, Leighton Rebecca, McCullough Sara, Baskaran Karthikeyan, Macedo Antonio Filipe, Xu Xun, Sankaridurg Padmaja, Tahhan Nina
Brien Holden Vision Institute (BHVI), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2025 Sep;45(6):1485-1495. doi: 10.1111/opo.13545. Epub 2025 Jun 16.
To determine age-specific axial growth rate in emmetropic eyes and investigate the effect of sex and region/ethnicity using population-based data.
A retrospective analysis of five population-based studies conducted in the United Kingdom, Sweden and China. A total of 16,526 datapoints from 6753 participants, aged 6-16.9 years, with spherical equivalents (SE) from -0.49 to +1 D were analysed. Axial length was modelled using a Generalised Estimating Equation with region/ethnicity and sex included as fixed factors and age, SE and corneal radius of curvature as covariates. Model-based estimates of axial length were used to derive age-specific axial growth rates, maintaining SE at 0.00 D and constant corneal radius of curvature.
Within this emmetropic population, axial length was weakly correlated with SE (r = -0.24) but strongly associated with corneal curvature (r = 0.76). Gender, region/ethnicity, SE, corneal curvature and inverse function of age were associated with axial length of emmetropic eyes. Axial length was longer in males than females by 0.55 mm (95% CI: 0.53-0.56 mm) in East-Asian emmetropic eyes and by 0.50 mm (95% CI: 0.49-0.52 mm) in European eyes; however, axial growth rate was marginally greater in males by 7%. Axial length of East-Asian eyes was significantly greater than Europeans by 0.14 mm (95% CI: 0.12-0.16 mm) in males and 0.12 mm (95% CI: 0.11-0.14 mm) in females, but axial growth rate was not significantly different between regions/ethnicities (p = 0.06). Axial growth rate decreased non-linearly from 0.17 to 0.03 mm/year in males and 0.16 to 0.02 mm/year in females between 6 and 16 years.
Emmetropic axial growth rate between 6 and 16 years is non-uniform with greater growth rate at younger ages and in males. Growth rates estimated by maintaining constant SE and corneal curvature are lower or similar to previous estimates and may be used to set goals for myopia treatment.
利用基于人群的数据确定正视眼特定年龄的眼轴生长速率，并研究性别和地区/种族的影响。
对在英国、瑞典和中国进行的五项基于人群的研究进行回顾性分析。共分析了来自6753名年龄在6至16.9岁参与者的16526个数据点，其等效球镜度（SE）为-0.49至+1D。使用广义估计方程对眼轴长度进行建模，将地区/种族和性别作为固定因素，年龄、SE和角膜曲率半径作为协变量。基于模型的眼轴长度估计值用于得出特定年龄的眼轴生长速率，将SE维持在0.00D并保持角膜曲率半径恒定。
在这个正视眼人群中，眼轴长度与SE呈弱相关（r = -0.24），但与角膜曲率密切相关（r = 0.76）。性别、地区/种族、SE、角膜曲率和年龄的反函数与正视眼的眼轴长度相关。在东亚正视眼中，男性的眼轴长度比女性长0.55mm（95%CI：0.53 - 0.56mm），在欧洲正视眼中长0.50mm（95%CI：0.49 - 0.52mm）；然而，男性的眼轴生长速率略高7%。东亚男性的眼轴长度比欧洲男性显著长0.14mm（95%CI：0.12 - 0.16mm），东亚女性比欧洲女性长0.12mm（95%CI：0.11 - 0.14mm），但地区/种族之间的眼轴生长速率无显著差异（p = 0.06）。在6至16岁之间，男性的眼轴生长速率从0.17mm/年非线性下降至0.03mm/年，女性从0.16mm/年下降至0.02mm/年。
6至16岁正视眼的眼轴生长速率不均匀，在较年轻年龄和男性中生长速率更高。通过维持恒定SE和角膜曲率估计的生长速率低于或类似于先前估计值，可用于设定近视治疗目标。
