Baseline peripheral refractive error and changes in axial refraction during one year in a young adult population

PURPOSE: To determine whether the initial characteristics of individual patterns of peripheral refraction relate to subsequent changes in refraction over a one-year period. METHODS: 54 myopic and emmetropic subjects (mean age: 24.9 ± 5.1 years; median 24 years) with normal vision were recruited and underwent conventional non-cycloplegic subjective refraction. Peripheral refraction was also measured at 5° intervals over the central 60° of horizontal visual field, together with axial length. After one year, measurements of subjective refraction and axial length were repeated on the 43 subjects who were still available for examination. RESULTS: In agreement with earlier studies, higher myopes tended to show greater relative peripheral hyperopia. There was, however, considerable inter-subject variation in the pattern of relative peripheral refractive error (RPRE) at any level of axial refraction. Across the group, mean one-year changes in axial refraction and axial length did not differ significantly from zero. There was no correlation between changes in these parameters for individual subjects and any characteristic of their RPRE. CONCLUSION: No evidence was found to support the hypothesis that the pattern of RPRE is predictive of subsequent refractive change in this age group.