Relative peripheral refractive errors in Chinese children with myopic anisometropia

AIM: To compare relative peripheral refractive errors (RPREs) in Chinese children with and without myopic anisometropia (MAI) and to explore the relationship between RPRE and myopia. METHODS: This observational cross-sectional study included 160 children divided into two groups according to the interocular spherical equivalent refraction (SER) difference ≥1.0 D in the MAI group (n=80) and <1.0 D in the non-MAI group (n=80). The MAI group was further divided into two subgroups: ?SER<2.0 D group and ?SER≥2.0 D group. Basic ocular biometric parameters of axial length (AL), average keratometry (Ave K), cylinder (CYL), surface regularity index (SRI), and surface asymmetry index (SAI) were recorded. In addition, multispectral refraction topography was performed to measure RPRE, and the parameters were recorded as total refraction difference value (TRDV), refraction difference value (RDV) 0-10, RDV10-20, RDV20-30, RDV30-40, RDV40-53, RDV-superior (RDV-S), RDV-inferior (RDV-I), RDV-temporal (RDV-T) and RDV-nasal (RDV-N). RESULTS: In the non-MAI group, the interocular differences of all parameters of RPRE were not significant. In the MAI group, the interocular differences of TRDV, RDV10-53, RDV-S, RDV-I, RDV-T, and RDV-N were significant. In subgroup analysis, the interocular differences of TRDV, RDV30-53, RDV-I, and RDV-T were significant in ?SER<2.0 D group and ?SER≥2.0 D group, but the interocular differences of RDV10-30, RDV-S and RDV-N were only significant in the ?SER≥2.0 D group. In correlation analysis, ?TRDV, ?RDV 10-53, ?RDV-S, and ?RDV-N were negatively correlated with ?SER but positively correlated with ?AL. CONCLUSION: The more myopic eyes have larger hyperopic RPRE in Chinese children with MAI in certain retinal range, and partial ?RPRE is closely associated with ?SER and ?AL.