Abstract
Purpose
To measure the lamina cribrosa thickness (LCT) in vivo of healthy people and to determine any association be-tween the LCT and age or sex.
Methods
We evaluated 100 eyes of 100 healthy volunteers. Forty eyes were selected and divided into 2 specific age groups (38-49 and 78-89 years) and the differences were assessed with respect to age and sex. Each participant under-went a complete eye examination and the LCT was evaluated with spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) using enhanced depth imaging (EDI) mode.
Results
Eighty-seven eyes were considered for the measurement and analysis of the LCT and 13 eyes were excluded be-cause of an unclear image for identifying the LCT. The mean age was 55.0 ± 19.5 years. The mean LCT in healthy volun-teers was 231.3 ± 41.6 μ m (range, 152.5 - 327.5 μ m) and a negative relationship was found between LCT and age (LCT = -1.614 × age + 320.191 μ m, 95% CI for slope -1.91 to -1.32, r2 = 0.572, p < 0.001). Regarding differences related to sex, males had relatively thicker LCT than females, irrespective of age, although not statistically significant (p = 0.623).
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Figure 1.
Change in lamina cribrosa thickness (LCT, μ m) with age. Regression line : LCT = -1.614 × age + 320.191 μ m, 95% CI for slope -1.91 to -1.32, r2=0.572, p < 0.001. AvgLCT = average lamina cribrosa thickness.
![jkos-54-1261f1.tif](/upload/SynapseXML/0035jkos/thumb/jkos-54-1261f1.gif)
Figure 2.
Differences with respect to sex and age in lamina cri-brosa thickness (LCT, μ m) in each group. Group 1: 38-49 years,10 men and 10 women, mean 240.40 (SD 24.30) μ m; Group 2:78-87 years, 10 men and 10 women, mean 191.65 (SD 25.31) μ m; unpaired t-test, p < 0.01.
![jkos-54-1261f2.tif](/upload/SynapseXML/0035jkos/thumb/jkos-54-1261f2.gif)
Table 1.
Characteristics of the overall subjects
Table 2.
Reproducibility of the lamina cribrosa thickness measurements
Mean (n = 87) | Standard deviation | ICC | |
---|---|---|---|
Intraobserver | |||
Observer 1 | 231.41 | 41.976 | 0.992 (0.987-0.994) |
Observer 2 | 231.28 | 41.408 |
Table 3.
Multiple comparison results
(I*) Group (years) | (J†) Group (years) | Mean difference (I-J) (μ m) | Standard error (μ m) | p-value |
---|---|---|---|---|
10-29 | 30-49 | 45.84677 | 10.85231 | 0.000 |
50-69 | 69.25000 | 11.46522 | 0.000 | |
70-89 | 95.19000 | 11.16542 | 0.000 | |
30-49 | 10-29 | -45.84677 | 10.85231 | 0.000 |
50-69 | 23.40323 | 8.43378 | 0.034 | |
70-89 | 49.34323 | 8.02147 | 0.000 | |
50-69 | 10-29 | -69.25000 | 11.46522 | 0.000 |
30-49 | -23.40323 | 8.43378 | 0.034 | |
70-89 | 25.94000 | 8.83304 | 0.022 | |
70-89 | 10-29 | -95.19000 | 11.16542 | 0.000 |
30-49 | -49.34323 | 8.02147 | 0.000 | |
50-69 | -25.94000 | 8.83304 | 0.022 |