Results of the School Children Ocular Biometry and Refractive error (SCORE) Study in South India

Background: Axial length is an important contributor to refraction and growth curves are gaining importance in the prediction of myopia. The aim of the study was to profile the distribution of ocular biometry parameters and to correlate with spherical equivalent refraction (SE) among school children in South India.
Methods: School children ocular biometry and refractive error (SCORE) study was conducted as part of a school screening program in Southern India. The enrolled children underwent tests that included vison check, refraction, binocular vision assessment, and biometry measurements.
Results: The study included 1382 children whose mean (SD) age was 10.18 (2.88) years (range 5 to 16 years). The sample was divided into 4 bins (grade 1 and 2, grades 3 to 5, grades 6 to 9 and grades 10) based on axial length (AXL) differences (one-way ANOVA, p <0.001) in the right eye. The mean (SD) AXL (range 20.33 mm to 27.27 mm) among the four groups was 22.50 (0.64) mm, 22.88 (0.69) mm, 23.30 (0.82) mm, and 23.58 (0.87) mm, respectively. The spherical equivalent (SE) refraction (range +1.86 D to -6.56 D) was 0.08 (0.65) in class 1, which decreased with increasing grade to -0.39 (1.20) in grade 10. There was a significant difference (p<0.001; independent t test) between all the biometry parameters between boys and girls. Age, AXL and mean corneal curvature were the main predictors for SE.
Conclusion: This study provides the profile of ocular biometry parameters among school children in South India for comparison against profiling at other regions across the country. The study data will form a reference for future studies assessing myopia in this ethnicity.