Abstract
Purpose: :
To study subfoveal choroidal thickness (SCT) on an healthy pediatric population and its correlation with age, visual acuity (VA), central retinal thickness (CRT) and axial length (AL).
Methods: :
Exclusion criteria were systemic disorders, previous ocular surgery, diseases and trauma. The visit consisted in : visual acuity, ocular axial length (LenStar LS 900, Haag Streit AG, Koeniz, Switzerland), slit-lamp examination, spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) (Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany). Horizontal and vertical SD-OCT scans were performed (single line, 30°, High Speed, Enhanced Depth Imaging, Real Time Averaging set on 100 frames). Images were analyzed by two independent observer (AC and MC) : each one performed manual segmentation of the choroid. Statistical analysis was conducted using Pearson’s product-moment correlation. Inter-observer agreement for SCT was calculated using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC).
Results: :
We evaluated 46 right eyes (46 consecutive patients), with a mean age of 8.7 years (SD = ± 3.08 range from 5 to 16). The mean value of SCT was 362.22 μm (SD ±74.04, range from 225 to 546). There was good inter-observer reproducibility of SCT measurement (ICC : horizontal scan = 0.987; vertical scan = 0.986). We found statistical significant positive correlation between SCT and age, only for the vertical scan (r = +0.321, p-value=0.029). No correlation between SCT and VA (horizontal scan : r=-0.068, p-value=0.651; vertical scan : r=-0.015, p-value=0.919). The same finding was found between SCT and CRT (horizontal scan : r=-0.142, p value=0.344; vertical scan : r=-0.145, p-value =0.333 ). We found a strong negative correlation between SCT and AL (horizontal scan : r=-0.383, p=0.008; vertical scan : r=-0.366, p=0.012).
Conclusions: :
The mean value of SCT in the pediatric population evaluated was superior to previous studies conducted on adult subjects. SCT did not correlate with VA and CRT as previously reported in adult population. We found a positive correlation between SCT and age only for the vertical scan. The negative correlation between SCT and AL is consistent with previously published studies.
Keywords: choroid • retina