Abstract
Purpose
To evaluate the effects of age on the distributional variability of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RFNL) thickness measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT) in myopia.
Methods
Only the right eye of 64 myopic patients with long axial length (≥24.5 mm) was included in the present study. The patients were divided into 2 age groups, 20 to 39 years of age and 40 to 59 years of age. Eventually, 42 subjects were selected and matched based on the difference of axial length not exceeding 0.5 mm between subjects in each group. The RFNL thickness was measured using Stratus OCT and average thickness, angular locations of double humps, and false-positive rate were compared.
Results
In both groups, the distribution of RNFL thickness in a double hump pattern was observed, which had a deviation to the temporal side only in the younger myopic eye group, but not in the middle-aged group. The middle-aged group had significantly thinner RNFL in 1, 7, and 8 clock-hour sectors compared to the younger myopic eyes ( p ≤ 0.02). Probability of abnormal OCT parameters at the 5% level of the 2 groups with the built-in RNFL normative database was not sig-nificantly different.
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Figure 1.
Comparison of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness profile between 2 groups. ◆(black diamond) = Group A, aged 20 to 39 years; ■(gray square) = Group B, aged 40 to 59 years. The standard deviation of each group was expressed with dotted (Group A) and straight lines (Group B). A sig-nificant difference of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness be-tween the young and old patients was revealed at 1 hour ( p = 0.020), 7 ( p = 0.001), and 8 ( p = 0.005) clock-hour sectors.
![jkos-54-1066f1.tif](/upload/SynapseXML/0035jkos/thumb/jkos-54-1066f1.gif)
Table 1.
Comparison of the characteristics between the 2 groups
Group A* (n = 21) | Group B† (n = 21) | p-value‡ | |
---|---|---|---|
Age (years) | 26.10 ± 1.30 | 50.70 ± 1.10 | <0.001 |
Axial length (mm) | 25.71 ± 0.17 | 25.54 ± 0.19 | 0.491 |
Spherical equivalent (diopter) | -4.88 ± 0.47 | -3.69 ± 0.58 | 0.096 |
Intraocular pressure (mm Hg) | 14.86 ± 0.78 | 14.33 ± 0.56 | 0.588 |
Table 2.
Comparison of the angular location with peak thickness in 2 major retinal nerve fiber layer humps between the 2 groups
Group A* (n = 21) | Group B† (n = 21) | p-value‡ | |
---|---|---|---|
Angle α (°) | 59.51 ± 12.68 | 65.90 ± 9.51 | 0.071 |
Angle β (°) | 64.37 ± 5.19 | 69.30 ± 8.52 | 0.028 |
Table 3.
Bivariate correlation analysis between axial length and angular locations of 2 nerve fiber layer humps
Group A* (n = 21) | Group B† (n = 21) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
R | p-value | R | p-value | |
Angle α (°) | -0.609 | 0.003 | -0.177 | 0.442 |
Angle β (°) | -0.561 | 0.008 | -0.240 | 0.296 |
Table 4.
Comparison of the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness between the 2 groups
Group A* | Group B† | p-value‡ | |
---|---|---|---|
Whole scan | 104.09 ± 8.73 | 98.36 ± 10.95 | 0.068 |
Superior quadrant | 119.48 ± 15.75 | 109.57 ± 18.35 | 0.129 |
Inferior quadrant | 132.67 ± 15.46 | 127.57 ± 18.82 | 0.068 |
Temporal quadrant | 99.00 ± 23.48 | 84.86 ± 15.97 | 0.028 |
Nasal quadrant | 64.19 ± 16.30 | 71.29 ± 13.19 | 0.343 |
1-o’clock hour | 113.81 ± 24.62 | 93.14 ± 30.25 | 0.020 |
2-o’clock hour | 77.62 ± 25.21 | 83.90 ± 19.91 | 0.375 |
3-o’clock hour | 52.61 ± 12.60 | 59.76 ± 17.50 | 0.137 |
4-o’clock hour | 62.29 ± 16.20 | 66.67 ± 14.46 | 0.361 |
5-o’clock hour | 93.05 ± 21.73 | 99.81 ± 18.51 | 0.284 |
6-o’clock hour | 136.76 ± 24.22 | 133.05 ± 38.41 | 0.710 |
7-o’clock hour | 168.52 ± 22.59 | 142.57 ± 22.88 | 0.001 |
8 -o’clock hour | 108.04 ± 31.01 | 85.38 ± 16.2 | 0.005 |
9-o’clock hour | 78.62 ± 25.09 | 67.86 ± 14.48 | 0.096 |
10-o’clock hour | 110.29 ± 20.39 | 97.95 ± 22.67 | 0.071 |
11-o’clock hour | 134.00 ± 20.11 | 126.76 ± 17.75 | 0.224 |
12 -o’clock hour | 112.29 ± 17.23 | 107.0 ± 27.30 | 0.457 |
Table 5.
Comparison of the proba normative database ability of abnormal OCT paramete ers at the 5% level between the 2 groups using the built-in RNFL
Group A* (%) | Group B† (%) | p-value‡ | |
---|---|---|---|
Whole scan | 0.0 | 0.0 | NA |
Superior quadrant | 7.1 | 14.3 | 0.454 |
Inferior quadrant | 2.4 | 2.4 | 1.000 |
Temporal quadrant | 0.0 | 0.0 | NA |
Nasal quadrant | 7.1 | 2.4 | 0.606 |
1-o’clock hour | 4.8 | 14.3 | 0.238 |
2-o’clock hour | 21.4 | 2.4 | 0.009 |
3-o’clock hour | 9.5 | 0.0 | 0.107 |
4-o’clock hour | 11.9 | 2.4 | 0.184 |
5-o’clock hour | 7.1 | 4.8 | 1.000 |
6-o’clock hour | 4.8 | 2.4 | 1.000 |
7-o’clock hour | 0.0 | 2.4 | 1.000 |
8 -o’clock hour | 0.0 | 0.0 | NA |
9-o’clock hour | 0.0 | 0.0 | NA |
10-o’clock hour | 0.0 | 0.0 | NA |
11-o’clock hour | 2.4 | 0.0 | 1.000 |
12 -o’clock hour | 2.4 | 4.8 | 1.000 |
Table 6.
Comparison of the number of clock-hour sectors below normal value at the 5% probability level and the proportion of eyes with abnormally thin clock-hour sectors at the 5% probability level between the 2 groups
Group A* | Group B† | p-value‡ | |
---|---|---|---|
Number of abnormal clock-hour sectors | 1.19 ± 0.82 | 0.67 ± 0.68 | 0.308‡ |
Proportion of eyes with abnormal clock-hour sectors (%) | |||
One or more clock | 10/21 (47.6) | 6/21 (28.6) | 0.063§ |
Two or more clock-hours | 5/21 (23.8) | 3/21 (14.3) | 1.000§ |
Three or more clock-hours | 3/21 (14.3) | 2/21 (9.5) | 1.000§ |