Normative periocular anthropometric measurements in Ghanaian adults

Objective: To establish population-specific reference values for periocular anthropometric dimensions among a healthy Ghanaian adult student population. Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study of the periocular dimensions of adult Ghanaian students aged 18 to 45 years in tertiary institutions in the Greater Accra Region from January to May 2019. A multistage sampling technique was used to select participants from four tertiary institutions. Demographic characteristics and periocular parameters such as age, sex, palpebral fissure height (PFH), palpebral fissure width (PFW), intercanthal distance (ICD), interpupillary distance (IPD), and margin crease distance (MCD) of study participants were measured. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize demographics and periocular measurements. Independent samples t -test and ANOVA were used to test for associations and differences. Results: A total of 796 eyes from 398 adult Ghanaians with a mean age of 30.5 ± 6.6 years and a slight male preponderance (200, 50.3%) were included in the study. The mean values for PFH, PFW, inner intercanthal distance (IICD), outer intercanthal distance (OICD), IPD, and MCD were 10.7 ± 1.1, 35.6 ± 2.3, 36.6 ± 3.0, 108.1 ± 5.8, 67.3 ± 3.1, and 5.6 ± 1.1 mm, respectively. The PFH and IPD were significantly higher in males than in females ( P < 0.05). There was a positive correlation between the age of participants and IPD ( P = 0.001) and MCD ( P = 0.001) using Pearson correlation analysis. Conclusion: This study has provided normative values for periocular anthropometric measurements in young Ghanaian adults in tertiary institutions, with variation in some of the parameters by sex and age.