Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate foveal and macular thicknesses measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to examine systemic relevant factors of foveal and macular thicknesses in healthy eyes of a general Japanese population.
Methods: :
In 2005, a total of 595 men and 880 women living in Hisayama, Japan, aged 40 years or older consented to participate in the population-based cross-sectional study. Exclusion criteria included any history or evidence of eye diseases that could affect the macular thickness. Each participant underwent a comprehensive physical examination and an ophthalmic examination including OCT. Foveal thickness (central 1000µm diameter area) and macular thickness divided by 4 resions (superior, nasal, tempotral, and inferior quadrant of 3-mm diameter of the center) were calculated by OCT mapping software. Using these cross-sectional data, multiple regression analyses were performed to determine the relevant factors of foveal and macular thicknesses. The following 9 possible relevant factors were used: age, gender, height, axial length, hypertention, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, smoking habits, and alchol intake.
Results: :
Mean foveal and macular thickness in right eyes were 194.0±22.2µm and 269.3±18.2µm, respectively. Age was positively correlated with foveal thickness, but negatively correlated with macular thickness. The foveal and macular thicknesses were significantly greater in men than in women and were positively correlated with axial length. Multiple regression analyses showed that diabetes (multivariate adjusted beta coefficient = -4.250µm, P = 0.015 ) , hypertention (multivariate adjusted beta coefficient = -2.321µm, P = 0.009), and smoking habits (multivariate adjusted beta coefficient = -2.396µm, P = <0.001) were significantly negatively correlated with macular thickness .
Conclusions: :
Our findings suggest that foveal thickness is thinner and macular thickness is thicker in the Japanese than in Caucasians, and that gender (men), and axial length were positively correlated with foveal and macular thicknesses, and diabetes, hypertension, and smoking habits are significant relevant factors of macular thickness.
Keywords: retina • macula/fovea • imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound)