Abstract
Purpose :
The aim of this study is to evaluate the choroidal thickness from a healthy population from Brazil and its association with age.
Methods :
72 healthy subjects were recruited. Choroidal scans were obtained for all eyes using enhanced depth imaging swept-source optical coherence tomography (Triton DRI SS-OCT Topcon). The choroidal thickness measurements were obtained from the Early Treatment Diagnostic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) circle at the macular level (diameters: center 1mm, inner circle 3mm, outer circle 6mm). Subjects were divided into two groups based on the median age: 20 – 35 years and 39 – 68 years. Statistical analysis was performed using t-test to compare choroidal thickness between groups and linear regression was used to evaluate choroidal thickness changes with increasing age.
Results :
125 eyes of 72 subjects qualified for the study. An eye was randomly chosen for the analysis. The mean age was 39.52 ± 15.52 years (range, 20-68 years). The average choroidal thickness distribution is shown in Figure 1. The mean choroidal thickness in the central ETDRS circle was 292.28 ± 81.83 μm (Table 1). In subjects younger than 39 years, the choroid at the inner and outer temporal sectors was significantly thicker than at the nasal sectors (mean difference, 27.75 and 73.79, respectively), but in the older group this was not observed (mean difference, -4.39 and 14.09, P-value, 0.504 and 0.165, respectively). Choroidal thickness at the central, inner temporal and inferior, and outer temporal and superior sectors significantly decreased with increasing age.
Conclusions :
In a population of normal Brazilian subjects, there were differences between age groups in choroidal thickness measured with the commercially available software of a swept-source OCT. Longitudinal studies of different populations are needed to further understand the age-related changes of the choroid.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.