Refractive error and biometrics of anterior segment of eyes of healthy young university students in Japan

To determine the parameters of the anterior segment of eyes that are significantly associated with the refractive error in healthy young Japanese university students. This was a cross-sectional observational study of 229 healthy Japanese university students (men: women,147:82) whose age ranged between 20 to 29 years. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were performed to identify the factors that were significantly correlated with the refractive error. The independent variables included age, sex, axial length, anterior chamber depth, corneal diameter, curvature of anterior surface of cornea, and central corneal thickness. The mean refractive error (spherical equivalent) was −4.1 ± 2.7 diopters (D) with a range of −12.5 to +0.5 D, and the mean axial length was 25.4 ± 1.3 mm with a range of 22.4 to 29.0 mm. Pearson univariate correlation analysis found that the refractive error was significantly and negatively correlated with the axial length (R = −0.82, P < 0.001), deeper anterior chamber (R = −0.30, P < 0.001), and larger corneal diameter (R = −0.21, P = 0.001). Multiple regression analysis showed that the refractive error was significantly associated with a longer axial length (P < 0.001), a deeper anterior chamber (P < 0.001), and a flatter corneal curvature (P < 0.001).The biometric values of the anterior segment of the eyes should make the eye more hyperopic which would reduce the myopia-inducing lengthening of the axial length.