Quantification and Predictors of OCT-Based Macular Curvature and Dome-Shaped Configuration: Results From the UK Biobank

Abstract

Purpose To investigate macular curvature, including the evaluation of potential associations and the dome-shaped macular configuration, given the increasing myopia prevalence and expected associated macular malformations. Methods The study included a total of 65,440 subjects with a mean age (± SD) of 57.3 ± 8.11 years with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) data from a unique contemporary resource for the study of health and disease that recruited more than half a million people in the United Kingdom (UK Biobank). A deep learning model was used to segment the retinal pigment epithelium. The macular curvature of the OCT scans was calculated by polynomial fit and evaluated. Further, associations with demographic, functional, ocular, and infancy factors were examined. Results The overall macular curvature values followed a Gaussian distribution with high inter-eye agreement. Although all of the investigated parameters, except maternal smoking, were associated with the curvature in a multilinear analysis, ethnicity and refractive error consistently revealed the most significant effect. The prevalence of a macular dome-shaped configuration was 4.8% overall, most commonly in Chinese subjects as well as hypermetropic eyes. An increasing frequency up to 22.0% was found toward high refractive error. Subretinal fluid was rarely found in these eyes. Conclusions Macular curvature revealed associations with demographic, functional, ocular, and infancy factors, as well as increasing prevalence of a dome-shaped macular configuration in high refractive error including high myopia and hypermetropia. These findings imply different pathophysiologic processes that lead to macular development and might open new fields to future myopia and macula research.

Macular Curvature in Adults Born Preterm With and Without ROP: Results from the Gutenberg Prematurity Eye Study

“…Furthermore, as also pointed out by Müller et al, varying optical path distortions by OCT system optics could not be excluded. 31 We have therefore decided to also adjust for mean corneal power as well as axial length to account for these possible influences in the perinatal model. For the ocular morphology model, we broke down the highly associated axial length into central corneal thickness, lens thickness, anterior chamber depth, and posterior segment length.…”

Assessment of OCT-Based Macular Curvature and Its Relationship with Macular Microvasculature in Children with Anisomyopia

“…They also highlighted the utility of macular curvature measurements in predicting the onset of myopic traction maculopathy. In a recent study within the UK Biobank, higher MCI value among adults was associated with higher myopia severity [ 19 ] apart from age, gender, or ethnicity. However, most of them only included the adults with high myopia and pathological myopia.…”

“…The location of RPE-BM boundaries was then extracted and loaded into MATLAB 2022R (The Mathworks Inc., Natick, MA, USA). Here, we used validated polynomial curve fitting method following Müller’s approach to generate the estimates of the curvature parameter [ 19 ]. Briefly, two-dimensional polynomial curve, denoted as f ( x ) = ax 2 + bx + c, was fitted on the central 20 horizontal and vertical slices to the retrieved RPE-BM boundary seperately.…”

“…In recent years, there has been a growing focus on macular curvature [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Macular curvature serves as a reflection of how the retina surface is contoured or curved in two dimensions, and it offers a more comprehensive understanding of retina anatomy and function atlas together with thickness and vascularity.…”