Association Between Severity of Myopia and Deformation Characteristics of the Cornea Based on Propensity Score Matching Analysis

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between severity of myopia and corneal deformation characteristics after removing confounding factors using propensity score matching (PSM) analysis. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted from April 1 to December 30, 2019 in Tianjin Eye Hospital. Participants were divided into low (spherical equivalent [SE] > -6.00 diopters) and high (SE = -6.00 diopters) myopia groups. Corneal deformation parameters were obtained using corneal visualization Scheimpflug technology. PSM analysis was conducted to minimize the effect of confounding factors (age, intraocular pressure, and corneal thickness) on corneal deformation. Correlation analysis and logistic regression models were applied to investigate the relationships between SE and corneal deformation parameters. RESULTS: A total of 2,126 eyes from 1,063 patients with a mean age of 23.81 +/- 5.68 years were enrolled. The left and right eyes were analyzed separately. After PSM analysis, logistic regression indicated that the peak distance was a significant indicator for high myopia in both eye models (left: odds ratio [OR] = 1.978, 95% CI: 1.303 to 3.004; right: OR = 2.089, 95% CI: 1.362 to 3.202; P < .001). The maximum amplitudes of deformation and deflection and peak distance were significantly negatively correlated with SE in both eyes, whereas the whole eye movement was significantly positively correlated with SE (P < .01), as well as the deformation amplitude at the second applanation (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Eyes with high myopia exhibited larger deformation and deflection amplitude compared to eyes with low myopia. The high distance between bending points of the cornea at the highest concavity (peak distance) may be a feature of high myopia.