Parapapillary Diffuse Choroidal Atrophy in Children Is Associated With Extreme Thinning of Parapapillary Choroid.
To analyze morphologic features of segmental parapapillary diffuse choroidal atrophy (PDCA) in children.



The study group included children (age ≤15 years) with high myopia who attended the Tokyo High Myopia Clinic. Control groups comprised participants of the population-based Gobi Desert Children Eye Study (GobiDCES). Fundus photographs were examined for presence of PDCA and choroidal thickness (CT) was measured by optical coherence tomography.



The study group included 41 eyes of 21 children with PDCA (mean age: 9.4 ± 3.7 years; mean refractive error: -11.5 ± 3.1 diopters) and the GobiDCES included 1463 children (age: 11.8 ± 3.5 years). In the study group, all eyes showed an extreme and abrupt thinning of the temporal parapapillary choroid. At 2500 μm nasal to the foveola, CT was <60 μm in 31 (76%) eyes of the study group but in none (0/1463) of the GobiDCES (P < 0.001), except for one child with PDCA.



Parapapillary diffuse choroidal atrophy in children is associated with abrupt segmental thinning of the choroid in the temporal parapapillary region, in addition to the thinning of the subfoveal choroid after adjusting for refractive error and age.
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
Tae
T
Yokoi
The Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
Dan
D
Zhu
Eye Institute of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, Shandong, China.
Hong Sheng
HS
Bi
Department of Ophthalmology, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany.
Jost B
JB
Jonas
Department of Ophthalmology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany.
Rahul A
RA
Jonas
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
Natsuko
N
Nagaoka
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
Muka
M
Moriyama
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
Takeshi
T
Yoshida
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
Kyoko
K
Ohno-Matsui
D000293:Adolescent; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D058452:Axial Length, Eye / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002829:Choroid / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005584:Fovea Centralis / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009216:Myopia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012029:Refraction, Ocular; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*