Macular thickness as determined by optical coherence tomography in relation to degree of myopia, axial length and vitreous chamber depth in Malay subjects

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the relationship between macular thickness and spherical equivalent refraction (SER), axial length (AL) and vitreous chamber depth (VCD) in Malay subjects. Methods: Sixty-three subjects (aged 19-24 years) with a mean SER of -1.79 Ϯ 2.24 D, mean axial length of 24.26 Ϯ 1.35 mm and mean vitreous chamber depth of 17.02 Ϯ 1.33 mm were included in this clinical cross-sectional study. Stratus optical coherence tomography (Time Domain optical coherence tomography) was used to determine the thickness of the outer macular (perifovea) and inner macular (parafovea) at four different locations, that is, temporal, superior, nasal and inferior quadrants and also the fovea itself. Results: Positive correlations were found between the outer macular (perifovea) thickness and SER at the temporal (R = 0.47, p < 0.05), superior (R = 0.36, p < 0.05) and inferior (R = 0.31, p < 0.05) quadrants. Foveal thickness was also positively correlated with AL (R = 0.34, p < 0.05) and VCD (R = 0.32, p < 0.05). Negative correlations were found between outer macular thickness and axial length at the temporal (R = -0.46, p < 0.05), superior (R = -0.27, p < 0.05), nasal (R = -0.25, p < 0.05) and inferior (R = -0.36, p < 0.05) quadrants. Negative correlations were also found between outer macular thickness and VCD at the temporal (R = -0.51, p < 0.05), superior (R = -0.32, p < 0.05), nasal (R = -0.31, p < 0.05) and inferior (R = -0.40, p < 0.05) quadrants. Conclusions: This study shows that the degree of myopia and elongation of the globe are associated with thinning of most areas of the perifovea. A trend for foveal thickening in the high myopia group is also inferred, although this does not apply to the low and moderate myopia groups.

Foveal and Macular Thickness Evaluation by Spectral OCT SLO and Its Relation with Axial Length in Various Degree of Myopia

“…This suggests the influence of axial length over macular thickness in myopia. This correlates with the study done by Lam et al, in which minimum foveal thickness increased with axial length [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Similarly, Hwang et al, [20] also found that in healthy young myopic eyes showed thinner macular thickness, lower macular volume and thicker foveal thickness were associated with longer axial length.…”

“…This suggests that the axial length increases with increasing degree of myopia. The degree of myopia and elongation of globe are associated with thinning of most areas of perifovea was found in a study by oathman SF et al, [18].…”

Macular Measurements Using Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography in Chinese Myopic Children

“…23,28,29 While there was significant correlation between foveal thickness and both SER and AL in the Pearson correlation analysis, there was no significant correlation in the partial correlation analysis. A number of studies have reported significant correlation between macular thickness and SER or AL, 6,7,9,22,23,25 but the analyses were not controlled for other possible confounding variables. Our study showed that after adjustment for the other factors, the association between macular thickness and SER or AL was insignificant.…”

“…4 Therefore, the assessment of macular parameters such as macular thickness and macular volume in myopic children is of significance when evaluating ocular conditions that are likely to induce macular thickening or thinning. [5][6][7] A number of studies have reported the correlation between macular thickness and refractive error or axial length (AL) using a noninvasive method, optical coherence tomography (OCT). 6,7 However, the conclusions were partly inconsistent in terms of regional and racial variations.…”

“…[5][6][7] A number of studies have reported the correlation between macular thickness and refractive error or axial length (AL) using a noninvasive method, optical coherence tomography (OCT). 6,7 However, the conclusions were partly inconsistent in terms of regional and racial variations. In addition, most of those studies used the time-domain OCT (TD-OCT) modality, which is limited as it fails to include the outer segment (OS) of the photoreceptor inner and outer segment junction (IS/OS) and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) layers owing to an insufficient axial resolution.…”