Ocular components during the ages of ocular development.

PURPOSE: To determine the distribution of ocular biometric components and their correlation with age and sex during the ages of ocular development in a 6- to 18-year-old population in Iran.

METHOD: In this cross-sectional study, which was performed in October 2012, multi-stage stratified cluster sampling was used to sample the study population from Dezful schools, a city in the southwest of Iran. Biometric examinations were done by an experienced optometrist using the LENSTAR/BioGraph (WaveLight AG, Erlangen, Germany).

RESULTS: Among 864 selected students, 683 participated in the study (response rate: 79.1%); 377 participants (55.2%) were male, and the mean age of the participants was 12 ± 3.4 years (range: 6-18 years). The mean and 95% confidence interval of axial length (AL) were 23.13 mm (22.93-23.33), anterior chamber depth (ACD) was 3.01 mm (2.96-3.06), lens thickness (LT) was 3.58 mm (3.55-3.61), central corneal thickness (CCT) was 549.33 mic (546.59-552.07), corneal radius (CR) was 7.77 mm (7.74-7.81), corneal diameter (CD) was 12.34 mm (12.31-12.38) and pupil diameter (PD) was 4.97 (4.91-5.03). Mean AL, ACD, CD and CR were significantly higher in boys, and mean LT was significantly higher in girls. AL and ACD increased, while LT decreased significantly with age. Myopia was associated with an increase in AL and ACD, and hyperopia was associated with an increase in LT and a decrease in ACD.

CONCLUSION: This study evaluated the distribution of the biometric components of the eye during the ages of ocular development in an Iranian population. In this age range, the majority of the changes were observed in the AL and LT.