Abstract
Purpose: :
To assess central corneal thickness (CCT) as parameter in glaucoma and ocular hypertension (OHT) patients attending ophthalmologists’ practices in Germany.
Methods: :
MoviX was a single-point, multicenter survey of patients treated in ophthalmologists’ practices in Germany between July 2003 and October 2005. For glaucoma and OHT patients, data regarding sex, age, glaucoma diagnosis, CCT (measured by using the optical coherence pachymeter (OCP), Heidelberg Engineering), visual field (Aulhorn stage), cup/disc ratio, intraocular pressure, and current/planned therapy were recorded. Except for demographics, the exploratory analysis was conducted on an "eye basis." Spearman rank correlation coefficients evaluated the association between CCT, age and cup/disc ratio.
Results: :
Data for 12,195 patients and 24,390 eyes were collected. The majority of patients were female (60.3%), and the mean age was 60.6±13.3 years. The most common specified diagnoses were primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG; 12,135/24,390 [49.8%]) and OHT (5813 [23.8%]), and the most common antiglaucoma therapies prescribed were beta-blockers (3318/7003 [27.2%]) and prostaglandin analogues (2073 [17.0%]). Mean CCT was 550µm in both left and right eyes (n=12,008 and 11,986), decreased somewhat with age (r=-0.14), was higher in men than women (552.4µm, n=9448; 548.5µm, n=14,347), and varied across diagnoses (e.g., POAG: 549.2µm, n=12,016; OHT: 559.1µm, n=5782; Normal tension glaucoma: 533.5 µm, n=419; Angle-closure glaucoma: 549,5µm, n=387; Pseudoexfoliation glaucoma: 542,9 µm, n=308). Patients with thinner corneas tended to have greater visual field loss (mean thickness by Aulhorn stage: 0=554.7µm [n=9089]; I=545.3µm [n=2075]; II=541.1µm [n=758]; III=528.2µm [n=314]; IV and V=530.6µm [n=220]). Those with thicker corneas also tended to have somewhat smaller cup/disc ratios (horizontal: r=-0.24; vertical: r=-0.26). On a large scale, these data seem to confirm the trend of earlier results that a thin CCT might correlate with advanced stages of the disease. On average, patients for whom physicians planned either no change in or discontinuation of antiglaucoma therapy had thicker corneas than those for whom a change in therapy was planned.
Conclusions: :
This large survey of ophthalmologists’ practices in Germany provides a profile of the relationship between corneal thickness and demographic and ocular variables.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: risk factor assessment