17 Bikbov, M.M. Kazakbaeva, G.M. Panda-Jonas, S. Iakupova, E.M. Jonas, J.B. retinal nerve fiber layer birth weight maternal smoking axial length cognitive function school performance russia Scopus Web of Science Белый список 2025 2026-05-04 10.1167/iovs.66.14.34 INVESTIGATIVE OPHTHALMOLOGY AND VISUAL SCIENCE PURPOSE. To assess the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) in school children in Russia. METHODS. The population-based school children study (Ural Children Eye Study [UCES]), performed in Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia, included 4933 children (mean age, 9.7 ± 2.6 years; range, 6.2–18.8 years). The children underwent a series of ophthalmological and systemic examinations. The dependence of the fundus image magnification on axial length was corrected by the Littmann–Bennet method. RESULTS. Of 4933 children primarily participating in the UCES, 3111 (63.1%) underwent optical coherence tomography–based RNFLT measurement. The mean uncorrected RNFLT was 103.5 ± 11.3 μm, and after correction for axial length-related fundus image magnification, it was 99.9 ± 10.6 μm. A thicker RNFLT was associated on multivariable analysis with a higher birth weight (beta, 0.10; B, 0.002; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.001–0.003; P < 0.001), a lower prevalence of maternal smoking during pregnancy (beta, −0.07; B, −8.49; 95% CI, −14.6 to −2.41; P < 0.001), higher school marks in mathematics (beta, 0.08; P = 0.006), higher cognitive function score (beta, 0.06; P = 0.005), and longer axial length (beta, 0.14; P < 0.001). RNFLT was thickest (P < 0.001) in the parapapillary inferior region (124.8 ± 18.7 μm) and superior region (124.8 ± 18.7 μm), thinner (P < 0.001) in the temporal region (77.1 ± 15.8 μm), and thinnest (P < 0.001) nasally (73.7 ± 16.3 μm). The nasal RNFLT decreased (beta, −0.07; B, −1.09; 95% CI, −1.65 to −0.54; P < 0.001), and the temporal RNFLT increased (beta, 0.34; B, 5.17; 95% CI, 4.67–5.67; P < 0.001) with a longer axial length. With a mean intereye difference in the RNFLT of 3.3 ± 5.5 μm, right and left eyes did not differ (P = 0.61) in RNFLT. CONCLUSIONS. In this ethnically mixed school children population from Russia, maternal smoking during pregnancy and birth weight lower by 250g decreased RNFLT by 8.5 μm and 5.0 μm, respectively. A thinner RNFLT correlated with worse cognitive scores and school marks. After adjusting for axial length, RNFLT increased with longer axial length. https://repo.bashgmu.ru/publication/5252 https://repo.bashgmu.ru/files/5438