CHOROIDAL THICKNESS AND VOLUME IN A HEALTHY PEDIATRIC POPULATION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH AGE, AXIAL LENGTH, AMETROPIA, AND SEX

Purpose: To evaluate choroidal thickness (CT) and volume in healthy pediatric individuals using enhanced depth imaging spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), as well as its association with age, sex, axial length (AL), and refractive error. Methods: Ninety-three eyes from 93 healthy pediatric individuals were examined. An Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study grid was applied to analyze CT and volume map in each of its nine sectors. Results: The mean subfoveal CT and volume were 314.22 +/- 55.48 mu m and 0.25 +/- 0.04 mm3, respectively. The nasal CT and volume of both the inner and the outer rings were significantly lower than the temporal area of the same ring and lower than the subfoveal choroidal thickness. A significant negative correlation between the subfoveal CT and AL (r = -0.250, P = 0.015) and a significant positive correlation between the subfoveal CT and refractive error (r = 0.238, P = 0.006) were found. The estimation of the variation in the subfoveal CT in relationship to the AL was -13.55 mu m per millimeter. The variation in the subfoveal CT with refractive error was 7.52 mu m per diopter. The estimation of the variation in the total choroidal volume related to the AL and ametropia was, respectively, -0.2354 mm(3) per millimeter and 0.1412 mm(3) per diopter. Conclusion: Healthy pediatric subjects exhibit choroidal differences in refractive error and AL. In the study population, CT and volume show an increase with age after adjusting for AL.