Background: The physical process of axial length growth among children and its role in the occurrence of myopia remain insufficiently explored. In this study, we investigate the patterns of ocular axial growth among persistent myopia (PM) and persistent non-myopia (PNM) children aged 3 to 15 years. Methods: A group of 6353 children aged 3 to 15 years, selected from rural schools in China, were followed up annually for 2 years. Biometric measurements including axial length (AL) and spherical equivalent refraction (SER) were obtained. Body height was recorded. Children were divided into two groups: PM group defined as SER of −0.50 D or less; PNM group defined as −0.50 D < SER < +3.0 D during follow-up. Results: Annual AL growth was fairly consistent for PNM eyes of children aged 3 to 11 years and then reduced significantly (independent t test, p < 0.001) for children aged 12 years and older. This pattern of AL changes was similar for PM children, although the AL growth was greater among them. Among children aged 6 and older, body height change was concomitant to AL growth (p < 0.01) and SER myopic shift (p < 0.001) until reaching 12 years old (p = 0.308 and p = 0.679, respectively). Conclusions: Stature growth and AL growth are both remarkable and consistent and concomitant but start to attenuate when the children reach 10 to 12 years old among emmetropic children. This observation suggests that AL growth is driven by physical development until 12 years old, whereas its excessive growth is dominated by myopia development.
Keywords: axial length; children; myopia; physical development.