Aims: This article aimed to assess the changes of subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) in different follow-up durations for myopic children under the treatment of orthokeratology and give a reference for further studies.
Method: Relevant publications were comprehensively retrieved through different databases, such as PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and Chinese database of Wan Fang and Wei Pu. Retrieval time was from the inception to February 2022. Standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were selected as the effect for calculating and analyzing the changes of choroidal thickness in myopic children with orthokeratology.
Result: A total of eight articles of 371 Patients (371 eyes) met our inclusion criteria. During the first month of wearing orthokeratology, choroidal thickness dramatically increased by 21.09 μ m (95%CI: 25.64, 16.7; P<0.00001). After the first month, it rose slightly, even became stable in next eleven months’ treatment (increased by 4.20 μm from the first month to the third month, 95%CI: 9.37, 0.9; P=0.11; increased by 3.99μm from the first month to the sixth month, 95%CI: 8.67, 0.6; P=0.09; increased by 2.99μm from the first month to the twelfth month, 95%CI: 7.76, 1.7; P=0.02).
Conclusion: This meta-analysis demonstrated that in the first month with orthokeratology, choroidal thickness presented an obvious increase, after that it became stable or got a slightly rise for the longer following-up treatment.