Correlation of refractive error with axial length and corneal topography

Purpose: To collect and analyze normative data about corneal topography and axial length in various refractive errors in Indian population.Design: Cross-sectional observational study. Materials and Method: Three hundred eyes (150 patients) of age group 12-35 yrs were arranged in 5 groups according to refractive status; Group 1 (n=44): myopia of SphericalEquivalent (SE) > 6 D; Group 2 (n=67): myopia of SE >0.5 D to 6 D; Group 3 (n=88): nearly emmetropic of SE -0.5 D to +0.5 D; Group 4 (n=59): hypermetropia of SE >0.5 to 6 D; Group 5 (n=42): hypermetropia of SE > 6 D. Axial length(AL), central radius of curvature of cornea (CR), central power of cornea (CK) , Al/CR ratio for each group were documented . Correlation with SE and among each other was studied. Results: Mean AL (in mm) of myopic patients (n=111) was 24.23 ± 1.34, emmetropic (n=88) 22.62 ± 0.94 and hypermetropics (n=101) 20.73 ±0.94. Mean CR (in mm) of myopic patients was 7.55 ± 0.35, emmetropics was 7.70 ±0.32, and hypermetropes was 7.99 ±0.35. Mean CK (in D) of myopics was 44.86±2.59, emmetropes was 43.91±1.76, and hypermetropes was 42.32±1.89. Mean AL/CR ratio of myopics was 3.22 ± 0.29, emmetropics 2.94± 0.07, and hypermetropics 2.60 ± 0.19. AL was negatively correlated with SE(r=-0.91, p<0.0001) and positively with AL/CR(r=0.88, p<0.0001) and CK (r=0.36, p<0.0001). CR was negatively correlated with AL/CR (r=-0.74, p<0.0001) while positively correlated with SE (r=0.62, p<0.0001). CK showed positive correlation with AL/CR (r=0.75, p<0.0001) while negative correlation with SE (r=-0.61, p<0.0001). AL/CR was negatively correlated withSE(r=-0.95, p<0.0001). Conclusion: This study showed a negative correlation between axial length and refractive error and between AL/CR ratio and refractive error with stronger inverse relationship in hypermetropes than myopes. There was a positive correlation of CR with SE with a weaker direct relationship in myopes than hypermetropes.