The average inner, outer, overall macular thickness, and overall macular volume were shown to decrease with the subjects' mean age in this study. These results correspond to histologic human retina studies that have demonstrated a decrease in the density of photoreceptors, ganglion cells, and retinal pigment epithelial cells with age.
24,25 Several studies in which the RTA,
4–6 Humphrey OCT 2000,
7,10 and Stratus OCT were used
8,11 reported a lack of relationship between retinal thickness and age. However, a study with Humphrey OCT 2000
1 and recent reports with OCT 3
2,3 presented results consistent with our study. In the studies with the Humphrey OCT 2000, Göbel et al.
7 and Kanai et al.
1 analyzed the foveola, 1 mm superior, inferior, nasal, and temporal to the foveola with four linear scans, and only the latter group found reduced retinal thickness in four parafoveal points with age. Wakitani et al.
10 analyzed the central 3-mm macular area in three circular areas measured with four linear Humphrey OCT 2000 scans, but found no relationship with age. The Stratus OCT study by Chan et al.
8 included only 37 eyes and did not consider the effect of axial length or sex. Lam et al.
11 used the fast macular thickness map protocol of Stratus OCT on 143 eyes with a relatively wide age spectrum (23–77 years) and a wide range of refractive error/axial length (+3.25 to −18.13 D/ 21.10–31.10 mm), but still found no relationship with age. Eriksson and Alm
2 and Manassakorn et al.,
3 however, reported results similar to our study using the Stratus OCT. We believe that the three studies found a relationship with age by limiting the inclusion criteria to a refractive error of ±3 D
1 or ±6 D and astigmatism of ≤3 D.
2,3 Eriksson and Alm
2 reported that retinal thickness in all nine ETDRS areas had a negative correlation with age. However, although they limited the range of participants' refractive error, they did not consider the influence of sex in their statistical analysis. Manassakorn et al.
3 found significant association between age and macular thickness in all ETDRS areas except the center. They not only restricted the participants' refractive error, but they also confirmed no significant difference in sex distribution in the age groups. Therefore, their study is the most reliable in controlling all the factors that might influence macular subfield thickness analysis. Our results using the SD-OCT affirm that macular subfield thickness, except in the central subfield, and macular volume decrease with age.