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. 2023 Sep 12;12(18):5929.
doi: 10.3390/jcm12185929.

Refractive Error and Axial Length and Their Related Factors in 8-Year-Old Japanese Children: The Yamanashi Adjunct Study of the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS)

Natsuki Okabe  1 , Airi Takahashi  1 , Yumi Shigemoto  1 , Chio Kogure  1 , Tadao Ooka  2 , Ryoji Shinohara  3 , Sanae Otawa  3 , Anna Kobayashi  3 , Sayaka Horiuchi  3 , Megumi Kushima  3 , Zentaro Yamagata  2   3 , Kenji Kashiwagi  1 , The Yamanashi Adjunct Study Of The Japan Environment And Children's Study Group
Affiliations

Refractive Error and Axial Length and Their Related Factors in 8-Year-Old Japanese Children: The Yamanashi Adjunct Study of the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS)

Natsuki Okabe et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the distribution of visual acuity, refractive error, and axial length in 8-year-old children who participated in an additional survey in Yamanashi Prefecture of the Japan Environmental Children's Study (hereafter referred to as JECS-Y) conducted from 2019 to 2021.

Participants and methods: Eight-year-old children who participated in the JECS-Y study were subjected to noncycloplegic measurements of refractive error and axial length. If the uncorrected visual acuity was less than 20/20, the best corrected visual acuity was evaluated in accordance with the autorefraction data. A questionnaire was administered regarding the parent's history of eyeglass wear or contact lens use.

Results: Among the 400 participating children, the rate of uncorrected visual acuity of 20/20 or better in both eyes was 70.4%. The mean equivalent spherical equivalent error for both eyes was -0.366 ± 1.016 D. The mean axial length was 23.08 ± 0.225 mm in all patients. The males showed significantly longer axial length than the females despite no differences in body height. There was a significant correlation between axial length, spherical refractive, and uncorrected visual acuity. The children of parents with a history of wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses showed a significantly more myopic equivalent refractive error than those without a history.

Conclusions: This study clarified the current state of refractive error in 8-year-old children and the association of inheritance with refractive error. In addition, the axials were significantly longer in male patients.

Keywords: axial length; children; refractive error.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of uncorrected visual acuity.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of uncorrected visual acuity between males (a) and females (b).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Spherical equivalent distribution of right eye (a) and left eye (b). D: diopter.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Axial length distribution.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Distribution of axial length by sex.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Uncorrected visual acuity (logMAR) and refractive error. D: diopter.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Correlation between axial length and refractive error. D: diopter.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Correlation between axial length and body height.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Parent’s use of eyeglasses or contacts and children’s spherical equivalent. ×: median, upper box end: upper quartile, lower box end: lower quartile, circle: outlier.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Parents’ use of eyeglasses or contacts and children’s axial length. ×: median, upper box end: upper quartile, lower box end: lower quartile, circle: outlier.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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