Effect of age and sex on ocular dimensions in emmetropic children in South West Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Ocular dimensions are important in the refractive status of the eye. Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the effect of age and gender on ocular axial dimensions of emmetropic Nigerian Children. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study of 468 children from selected pre-nursery, nursery and primary schools with normal visual acuity were recruited into the study. Lens thickness (LT), anterior chamber depth (ACD) and vitreous chamber depth (VCD) were measured using a B-mode CLEA Vue 550 PHILLIP ultrasound Machine 2013 model, with a 4–12 MHz linear transducer. Results were entered into the personal computer and analysed using the SPSS statistical package version 21. Results: There were 235 boys (50.2%) and 233 girls (49.8%) with a ratio of 1.01: 1. Mean age for the study participants as a whole, 8.81 ± 3.81 years. The mean ACD, LT, and VCD were 3.6 mm, 3.7 mm and 17.5 mm in the RE and 3.7 mm, 3.8 mm and 24.8 mm in the LE. Only LT showed a significant difference between the sexes in both eyes. All ocular dimensions increased with age with the exception of ACD in the left eye. Conclusion: Of all the ocular dimensions, only LT showed the effect of gender, but no effect of age and age groups, particularly on the left eye.

Keywords

• age
• children
• gender
• ocular dimension