Macular Thickness Changes with Age and Gender in Emmetropia Using Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

Seung Hoon Kim; Kyung Seek Choi; Sung Jin Lee

doi:10.3341/jkos.2011.52.3.299

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Kim, Choi, and Lee: Macular Thickness Changes with Age and Gender in Emmetropia Using Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

Original Article

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2011;52(3):299-307.

Published online: 7 September 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2011.52.3.299

Macular Thickness Changes with Age and Gender in Emmetropia Using Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

Seung Hoon Kim, MD, Kyung Seek Choi, MD, PhD, Sung Jin Lee, MD, PhD

Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Soonchunhyang University, Seoul, Korea

Address reprint requests to Sung Jin Lee, MD, PhD Department of Ophthalmology, Soonchunhyang University Hospital #22 Daesagwan-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul 140-743, Korea Tel: 82-2-709-9354, Fax: 82-2-798-7797, E-mail: wismile@unitel.co.kr

Received 19 May 201020 September 2010 Accepted 17 January 2011

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the changes in macular thickness with regard to age and gender in normal subjects with emmetropia using spectral domain optical coherence tomography.

Methods

The present study consisted of 90 healthy subjects (162 eyes) with no ophthalmic evidence of retinopathy and who had emmetropic eyes. The data from macular measurements using spectral domain optical coherence tomography was analyzed according to the groups divided by age (Group 1: 0 to 19 years of age, Group 2: 20 to 39 years of age, Group 3: 40 to 59 years of age, Group 4: 60 to 80 years of age) and gender.

Results

Macular thickness of the central circle was 253.40 ± 23.03 μ m in all subjects. There was no significant change with age (p > 0.05). However, the measurements at the inner (3 mm) and outer circle (6 mm) showed a reduction of macular thickness with age (p < 0.05). The macular thickness at the central and inner circle was significantly lower in the female subjects (p < 0.05). In group 3 and 4, macular thickness at the central circle in males was greater than in females. In group 3, the average inner macular thickness in males was significantly greater than in females (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

In normal subjects with emmetropia, there are statistically significant differences in macular thickness between subjects of different age and gender. The results from the present study can be expected to provide a reference value for evaluating macular disease.

Keywords: Age, Emmetropia, Gender, Macular thickness, Spectral domain optical coherence tomography

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Figure 1.

ETDRS subfields within standard 1, 3, and 6 mm diameter concentric circles on the right used for reporting retinal thickness. ETDRS = Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (F = fovea; SI = superior inner; NI = nasal inner; II = inferior inner; TI = temporal inner; SO = superior outer; NO = nasal outer; IO = inferior outer; TO = temporal outer).

Figure 2.

Bar graph showing the changes in macular thickness by age group and gender. In group 3, the average inner macular thickness in males was significantly larger than in females. M = male; F = female. ^∗ Statistically significant with paired t-test (p=0.05).

Figure 3.

Scatter plots and regression line of the macular thickness (Central circle, Inner circle, Outer circle, Overall macula) and total macular volume against age.

Table 1.

Study population demographics

	No. of eyes		Age (mean ± SD)		Age (range)		Spherical equivalent (D)
	All	Male	All	Male	All	Male	All
	All	Female	All	Female	All	Female	All
Group 1 (0-19)	39	21	8.59 ± 3.85	8.24 ± 4.09	4-19	4-19	-0.03 ± 0.52
		18		9 ± 3.63		4-15
Group 2 (20-39)	46	20	33.48 ± 5.03	32.6 ± 5.53	22-39	22-39	-0.13 ± 0.41
		26		33.77 ± 5.37		24-39
Group 3 (40-59)	42	24	47.52 ± 5.62	45.83 ± 5.80	40-57	40-57	-0.04 ± 0.55
		18		49.82 ± 4.76		41-57
Group 4 (60-80)	35	13	67.34 ± 7.35	69 ± 8.14	60-80	60-79	0.05 ± 0.53
		22		66.36 ± 6.85		60-80
Total	162	78	33.38 ± 21.41	36.18 ± 21.43	4-80	4-79	-0.04 ± 0.50
		84		40.33 ± 21.39		4-80
p-value			<0.001∗	<0.001∗			0.397^∗
				<0.001∗

^∗ Analysis of variance.

Table 2.

Macular thickness (μ m) and volume (mm) measurements using spectral domain optical coherence tomography in emmetropic eyes by 4 age groups (mean ±SD)

	Central circle	SI	NI	II	TI	Average inner	SO	NO	IO	TO	Average outer	Overall average	TMV
Group 1	256± 27	317± 14	320± 16	310± 17	306± 15	313± 14	287± 13	301± 12	274± 11	267± 12	282± 9	283± 9	10.15± 0.38
Group 2	259± 23	326± 16	328± 14	321± 16	314± 15	322± 14	284± 14	303± 17	272± 17	265± 15	281± 14	284± 14	10.24± 0.48
Group 3	250± 19	319± 15	322± 15	314± 16	307± 16	315± 15	276± 14	294± 16	262± 13	259± 14	273± 13	277± 16	9.86± 0.45
Group 4	251± 21	309± 16	316± 17	304± 20	295± 18	306± 17	271± 16	291± 16	257± 19	255± 16	269± 15	270± 15	9.74± 0.55
Total	253± 23	319± 16	321± 16	313± 18	305± 17	314± 16	279± 16	297± 16	267± 17	261± 17	277± 14	279± 15	10.02± 0.51
ANOVA	0.95	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01

SI = superior inner; NI = nasal inner; II = inferior inner; TI = temporal inner; SO = superior outer; NO = nasal outer; IO = inferior outer; TO = temporal outer; TMV = total macular volume.

Table 3.

Macular thickness (μ m) and volume (mm³) measurements using spectral domain optical coherence tomography in emmetropic eyes by gender in each age group (mean ±SD)

	Central circle	SI	NI	II	TI	Average inner	SO	NO	IO	TO	Average outer	Overall average	TMV
Male
Group 1	257± 22	321± 11	324± 15	313± 16	309± 15	317± 13	287± 13	303± 11	272± 12	268± 12	282± 10	284± 10	10.19± 0.38
Group 2	264± 20	330± 18	331± 15	326± 17	326± 17	326± 15	282± 16	302± 20	271± 17	266± 18	281± 16	285± 15	10.27± 0.54
Group 3	256± 14	322± 13	326± 13	318± 14	309± 13	318± 13	276± 15	296± 14	263± 11	261± 12	274± 12	277± 11	10.00± 0.41
Group 4	261± 22	306± 16	319± 22	306± 22	296± 19	307± 19	268± 16	290± 17	258± 19	257± 17	268± 16	270± 15	9.76± 0.56
Total	259± 19	322± 16	325± 16	317± 18	309± 16	318± 16	279± 16	298± 16	267± 16	263± 15	277± 14	280± 14	10.08± 0.49
Female
Group 1	254± 32	312 ± 16	315 ± 16	306 ± 19	303 ± 14	309± 15	286± 13	303± 14	275± 9	266± 14	282± 9	282± 9	10.11± 0.38
Group 2	254± 25	323 ± 13	326 ± 13	318 ± 14	310 ± 14	319± 13	284± 13	298± 14	271± 16	264± 12	281± 13	284± 12	10.22± 0.44
Group 3	243± 18	312 ± 15	316 ± 14	311 ± 15	302 ± 17	310± 15	276± 12	292± 16	261± 19	257± 17	271± 15	275± 15	9.73± 0.45
Group 4	245± 19	311 ± 16	315 ± 14	302 ± 18	295 ± 18	305± 15	272± 16	285± 16	254± 15	251± 14	268± 14	270± 13	9.67± 0.55
Total	249± 25	315 ± 16	318 ± 15	309 ± 18	303 ± 16	312± 15	279± 15	296± 16	265± 18	259± 15	276± 15	278± 14	9.96± 0.52
Male VS Fema (p-value)∗	ale <0.01 <	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01 <	<0.01	0.85	0.11	0.69	0.46	0.48	0.42	0.23

SI = superior inner; NI = nasal inner; II = inferior inner; TI = temporal inner; SO = superior outer; NO = nasal outer; IO = inferior outer; TO = temporal outer; TMV = total macular volume.

^∗ Paired t- test.

Table 4.

Linear regression of macular thickness (μ m) and volume (mm³) with age in 162 eyes between 4 and 80 years of age

Area	Loss per year	R²	p-value
Central circle	-0.12 μ m	0.01	0.16
SI	-0.20 μ m	0.07	0.001
NI	-0.12 μ m	0.03	0.04
II	-0.13 μ m	0.03	0.04
TI	-0.22 μ m	0.03	0.004
Average inner macula	-0.17 μ m	0.05	0.005
SO	-0.31 μ m	0.17	<0.001
NO	-0.22 μ m	0.08	<0.001
IO	-0.34 μ m	0.18	<0.001
TO	-0.26 μ m	0.12	<0.001
Average outer macula	-0.29 μ m	0.17	<0.001
Overall average macula	-0.27 μ m	0.15	<0.001
Total macular volume	-0.009 mm³	0.15	<0.001

SI = superior inner; NI = nasal inner; II = inferior inner; TI = temporal inner; SO = superior outer; NO = nasal outer; IO = inferior outer; TO = temporal outer.

Table 5.

Linear regression of macular thickness (μ m) and volume (mm³) with age in male and female gender

Area	Loss per year		R²		p-value
Area	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Central circle	0.06	-0.24	0.004	0.04	0.56	0.055
Average inner macula	-0.14	-0.16	0.03	0.05	0.03	0.04
Average outer macula	-0.25	-0.32	0.15	0.18	<0.001	<0.001
Overall average macula	-0.23	-0.3	0.13	0.17	<0.001	<0.001
Total macular volume	-0.007	-0.10	0.1	0.18	0.003	<0.001

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