Purpose: To study the distribution of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in a population of 12-year-old children in central China using iVue-100 spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).
Methods: Twelve-year-old students (n = 2105) from four randomly selected middle schools in Anyang, China, participated in the study. Each child underwent ocular examinations, including optical biometry, cycloplegic autorefraction, and SD-OCT (iVue-100). Glaucoma optic nerve head scan was performed to measure RNFL thickness. Only the children with a signal strength index higher than 45 were included in the analyses. Multivariate analyses were performed to examine the association of RNFL with demographic variables (e.g., sex, age, and body mass index [BMI]) and ocular variables (e.g., axial length and refractive error).
Results: Optical coherence tomography scans of adequate quality were available for 1955 children (92.9%). The mean (SD) RNFL thickness was 103.08 (9.01) μm, with the mean (SD) thickest RNFL in the inferior quadrant (129.34 [14.90] μm), followed by the superior (126.19 [15.24] μm), temporal (82.98 [10.57] μm), and nasal (73.82 [13.89] μm) quadrants. The RNFL was thicker with shorter axial length (β = -1.53, P < 0.0001) and with higher hyperopia (β = 0.90, P < 0.0001). Girls had slightly thicker average RNFL thickness than boys (P < 0.0001). The RNFL thickness had no significant correlation with age or BMI.
Conclusions: This study establishes normative peripapillary RNFL values of 12-year-old Chinese children as measured by iVue-100 SD-OCT. The RNFL thickness decreased significantly with increasing axial length and higher myopia.
Keywords: Chinese children; iVue-100; retinal nerve fiber layer thickness; spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.