Abstract
Purpose: :
To determine choroidal thickness in normal eyes using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to evaluate association between choroidal thickness and age, axial length and gender.
Methods: :
Spectral domain OCT images (Bioptigen, Bioptigen, inc., Durham, NC) were obtained in 293 eyes of 157 healthy volunteers without retinal diseases. The choroidal thickness at the fovea was manually measured from the outer border of the retinal pigment epithelium to the chorioscleral interface. Only the images with acceptable quality to visualize chorioscleral interface were included. The IOL master (Carl Zeiss Meditech) was used to measure the axial length of the eye. Statistical analyses using paired t-test and Pearson correlation were performed to evaluate the correlation between choroidal thickness and age, axial length, and gender.
Results: :
The mean and median age of the 157 subjects were 33.3 and 29 years old, respectively (range, 7 to 83 years). There were 60 males and 97 females. Of the 293 eyes included in the study, 151 were right eyes and 142 were left eyes. The mean and median axial lengths for all eyes were 24.5 mm and 24.4 mm, respectively (range, 21.4 mm to 29.9 mm). The mean subfoveal choroidal thickness in these normal eyes was 253.0um (range, 126.9 um to 372.1 um). Increasing age (R2=-0.222, P<0.001) and increasing axial length (R2=-0.180, P=0.002) were correlated with decreasing choroidal thickness. There was no statistically significant difference in choroidal thickness between males and females (P=0.47).
Conclusions: :
The choroidal thickness at the fovea in normal eyes showed an inverse correlation with age and axial length but no significant difference by gender.
Keywords: choroid • imaging/image analysis: clinical • imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound)