Comment on: Ocular biometric parameters in South-Indian children with myopia

Dear Editor, We read the article “Ocular biometric parameters in South-Indian children with myopia – A hospital-based retrospective descriptive analysis” with great interest.[1] We commend the authors for providing insights regarding the biometric profile of a large cohort of South-Indian myopic children. However, there are a few points that we would like to highlight in this letter. The authors included 200 children with simple myopic astigmatism in their study, which is a result of corneal pathology in most cases.[2] They also fail to exclude patients with lenticular myopia. Including these patients in a study that analyzes the interplay of the ocular biometric parameters, mainly the axial length (AL), in myopia is imprudent and can skew the results. The authors have performed a multivariable linear regression analysis to study the correlation of spherical equivalent (SE) with AL/CR (corneal curvature) ratio, age, and gender. However, the results showed in the tables in the article are of univariable analysis. It would be good to know the results of the multivariable analysis, which provides a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between multiple variables. The relationship of gender with SE is not clearly understood in the study. The authors found that the female gender was associated with shorter AL, anterior chamber depth, CR, and AL/CR ratios, with high statistical significance (P < 0.001) across all age groups. It is unclear whether this observation was a function of gender or due to the difference in the degree of myopia between the two genders. Since this was a study of a myopic and not an emmetropic population, the effect of SE becomes essential in understanding the variations in biometric parameters with gender. While the study provides valuable insights into the effect of ocular parameters on myopia, addressing these concerns will enhance the applicability of the results and pave the way for further clinical research. Financial support and sponsorship: Nil. Conflicts of interest: There are no conflicts of interest.