Macular Thickness Variations with Sex, Age, and Axial Length in Healthy Subjects: A Spectral Domain–Optical Coherence Tomography Study

• Published in: Investigative ophthalmology & visual science Vol. 51; no. 8; p. 3913
• Main Authors: Song, Won Kyung, Lee, Sung Chul, Lee, Eun Suk, Kim, Chan Yun, Kim, Sung Soo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.08.2010
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging - physiology; Body Weights and Measures; Cross-Sectional Studies; Eye - anatomy & histology; Female; Humans; Macula Lutea - anatomy & histology; Male; Middle Aged; Reference Values; Refractive Errors - pathology; Sex Factors; Tomography, Optical Coherence; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1552-5783; 1552-5783
• DOI: 10.1167/iovs.09-4189

To assess the relationship between macular retinal thickness and volume and age, sex, and refractive error/axial length with spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). One randomly selected eye of 198 consecutive ophthalmically normal subjects (104 men, 94 women) between July 2008 and January 2009, with corrected visual acuities better than 20/30 were included in this cross-sectional study. Complete ophthalmic examination, axial length measurement with a laser interferometer, and macular cube 512 x 128 scan by SD-OCT were performed. The mean age was 55.6 +/- 16.4 years (range, 17-83), average refractive error was -2.17 +/- 4.82 (range, -23.50-3.75), and average axial length was 24.73 +/- 1.98 mm (range, 21.52-32.51). The central subfield thickness, average inner macular thickness, and overall macular volume were significantly lower in the female subjects (partial correlation: P = 0.009, P = 0.027, and P = 0.042, respectively). As age increased, average inner macular thickness, average outer macular thickness, overall average macular thickness, and macular volume decreased significantly (partial correlation: P = 0.002, P = 0.002, P = 0.002, and P = 0.000, respectively). Refractive error had no significant influence in partial correlation analysis. Axial length correlated negatively with average outer macular thickness, overall average macular thickness, and macular volume (partial correlation: P = 0.006, P = 0.044, and P = 0.003, respectively). In normal subjects, SD-OCT showed that retinal thickness is related to age, sex, and axial length, with regional variations.