RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Sympathetic nervous system activity is associated with choroidal thickness and axial length in school-aged children
JF British Journal of Ophthalmology
JO Br J Ophthalmol
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.
SP bjo-2022-322165
DO 10.1136/bjo-2022-322165
A1 Senlin Lin
A1 Bijun Zhu
A1 Ting Wang
A1 Hong Wang
A1 Xian Xu
A1 Shanshan Wang
A1 Yao Yin
A1 Zhaoyu Xiang
A1 Yu Qian
A1 Zhang Zhang
A1 Lipu Cui
A1 Haidong Zou
A1 Xiangui He
A1 Jianfeng Zhu
A1 Yingyan Ma
YR 2023
UL http://bjo.bmj.com/content/early/2023/02/13/bjo-2022-322165.abstract
AB Background/aims We aim to explore the effect of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) on choroid thickness (ChT) and axial length (AL).Methods Students of grade 2 and 3 from a primary school were included and followed for 1 year. Visual acuity, refraction, AL and ChT were measured. Morning urine samples were collected for determining SNS activity by analysing concentrations of epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine using the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The most important factor (factor 1) was calculated using factor analysis to comprehensively indicate the SNS activity.Results A total of 273 students were included, with an average age of 7.77±0.69 years, and 150 (54.95%) were boys. Every 1 µg/L increase in epinephrine is associated with 1.60 µm (95% CI 0.30 to 2.90, p=0.02) decrease in average ChT. Every 1 µg/L increase in norepinephrine is associated with 0.53 µm (95% CI 0.08 to 0.98, p=0.02) decrease in the ChT in inner-superior region. The factor 1 was negatively correlated with the ChT in the superior regions. Every 1 µg/L increase in norepinephrine was associated with 0.002 mm (95% CI 0.0004 to 0.004, p=0.016) quicker AL elongation. The factor 1 was positively correlated with AL elongation (coefficient=0.037, 95% CI 0.005 to 0.070, p=0.023).Conclusions We hypothesised that chronic stress characterised by elevated level of the SNS, was associated with significant increase in AL elongation, probably through thinning of the choroid.Data are available on reasonable request.