Myopic maculopathy among Chinese children with high myopia and its association with choroidal and retinal changes: the SCALE-HM study

Abstract

AimsTo investigate myopic maculopathy in Chinese children with high myopia and its association with choroidal and retinal changes.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included Chinese children aged 4–18 years with high myopia. Myopic maculopathy was classified by fundus photography and retinal thickness (RT) and choroidal thickness (ChT) in the posterior pole were measured by swept-source optical coherence tomography. A receiver operation curve was used to determine the efficacy of fundus factors in classifying myopic maculopathy.ResultsIn total, 579 children aged 12.8±3.2 years with a mean spherical equivalent of −8.44±2.20 D were included. The proportions of tessellated fundus and diffuse chorioretinal atrophy were 43.52% (N=252) and 8.64% (N=50), respectively. Tessellated fundus was associated with a thinner macular ChT (OR=0.968, 95% CI: 0.961 to 0.975, p<0.001) and RT (OR=0.977, 95% CI: 0.959 to 0.996, p=0.016), longer axial length (OR=1.545, 95% CI: 1.198 to 1.991, p=0.001) and older age (OR=1.134, 95% CI: 1.047 to 1.228, p=0.002) and less associated with male children (OR=0.564, 95% CI: 0.348 to 0.914, p=0.020). Only a thinner macular ChT (OR=0.942, 95% CI: 0.926 to 0.959, p<0.001) was independently associated with diffuse chorioretinal atrophy. When using nasal macular ChT for classifying myopic maculopathy, the optimal cut-off value was 129.00 µm (area under the curve (AUC)=0.801) and 83.85 µm (AUC=0.910) for tessellated fundus and diffuse chorioretinal atrophy, respectively.ConclusionA large proportion of highly myopic Chinese children suffer from myopic maculopathy. Nasal macular ChT may serve as a useful index for classifying and assessing paediatric myopic maculopathy.Trial registration numberNCT03666052.