Abstract
Purpose :
Retina structural features provide fundamental information on physiological and pathological changes as people age. Normative data on macular ganglion cell complex (GCC) and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness measures are scarce in the existing literature for people over 75 years old. Here we describe these measures by optical coherence tomography (OCT) in two aging community samples to show how demographic and contextual factors are associated with retinal neuronal health.
Methods :
EyeDOC participants from Jackson, MI and Washington County, MD were enrolled from the ARIC cohort. Jackson participants were Blacks and Washington County participants were Caucasians. One eye from each participant was randomly selected for OCT imaging. Eyes with glaucoma or other significant retinal pathologies were excluded from analysis. Overall and sectional measures of macular GCC and pRNFL thickness were obtained after image quality assessment. Axial length (AL) was measured using partial coherence interferometry. Multivariate linear regression models were used to identify demographic correlates of GCC and pRNFL thickness including age, sex, and AL for Jackson and Washington County, respectively.
Results :
A total of 258 and 280 participants were analyzed from Jackson and Washington County, with mean age in years of 79±4 and 80±4, respectively. Jackson had higher proportion female participants than Washington County (70% vs 58%, P<0.003). Average macular GCC and pRNFL thickness were 89.2±10.6 μm and 91.9±13.2 μm in Jackson participants, and the corresponding measures were 92.9 ± 10.9 μm and 91.9±11.0 μm in Washington County participants. Sectional pRNFL was thicker at the inferior and superior quadrant, and thinnest at the temporal quadrant. Thinner pRNFL was associated with longer eyes, but not age or sex. With 1mm axial elongation, pRNFL was 2.82 μm (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.82~4.82 μm) thinner in Jackson, and 1.47 μm (95%CI: 0.41~2.53 μm) thinner in Washington County.
Conclusions :
Longer eyes had thinner pRNFL in this aging population. The differences in the structural measures and their associations with age and AL in Jackson and Washington County may stem from the community discrepancies including factors on race, socioeconomics, lifestyles, and access to care.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.