AIM: To study the subfoveal choroidal thickness(SFCT)and its influencing factors in children with different degree of myopia.

METHODS: This is prospective cohort study. Eighty-nine eyes of 45 school-age children aged 5-14 years old were studied, and according to the equivalent sphericity(SE)into different refractive groups. Mild, moderate and high myopia groups had 27, 42 and 20 eyes respectively, apply the enhanced depth scanning mode(EDI-OCT)of an optical coherence tomography(OCT)scanner to measure SFCT to compare choroid thickness differences among myopia groups, to find out the change rule of SFCT between myopia groups, and Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the related influencing factors.

RESULTS:SFCT of mild myopia, moderate myopia and high myopia respectively were(253.22±43.56)μm,(223.19±54.93)μm,(185.90±50.99)μm, SFCT differences between different refractive groups were statistically significant(P<0.05), Pearson correlation analysis found that there was a significant correlation between SFCT and SE and axial length(r=0.430, -0.499, 0.425, all P<0.001); slightly related to K1 and K2, and the correlation of AL, retinal nerve fiber layer(RNFL)thickness were better than that of SE. There were statistically significant differences in family history of myopia among the myopic groups(χ²=7.44, P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: The degree of myopia in children was deepened and SFCT became thinner. The degree of myopia in children is related to the family history of myopia.