Macular thickness as determined by optical coherence tomography in relation to degree of myopia, axial length and vitreous chamber depth in Malay subjects

AbstractPurpose: This study aimed to determine the relationship between macular thickness and spherical equivalent refraction (SER), axial length (AL) and vitreous chamber depth (VCD) in Malay subjects.Methods: Sixty‐three subjects (aged 19–24-years) with a mean SER of ‐1.79 ± 2.24-D, mean axial length of 24.26 ± 1.35-mm and mean vitreous chamber depth of 17.02 ± 1.33-mm were included in this clinical cross‐sectional study. Stratus optical coherence tomography (Time Domain optical coherence tomography) was used to determine the thickness of the outer macular (perifovea) and inner macular (parafovea) at four different locations, that is, temporal, superior, nasal and inferior quadrants and also the fovea itself.Results: Positive correlations were found between the outer macular (perifovea) thickness and SER at the temporal (R = 0.47, p < 0.05), superior (R = 0.36, p < 0.05) and inferior (R = 0.31, p < 0.05) quadrants. Foveal thickness was also positively correlated with AL (R = 0.34, p < 0.05) and VCD (R = 0.32, p < 0.05). Negative correlations were found between outer macular thickness and axial length at the temporal (R = ‐0.46, p < 0.05), superior (R = ‐0.27, p < 0.05), nasal (R = ‐0.25, p < 0.05) and inferior (R = ‐0.36, p < 0.05) quadrants. Negative correlations were also found between outer macular thickness and VCD at the temporal (R = ‐0.51, p < 0.05), superior (R = ‐0.32, p < 0.05), nasal (R = ‐0.31, p < 0.05) and inferior (R = ‐0.40, p < 0.05) quadrants.Conclusions: This study shows that the degree of myopia and elongation of the globe are associated with thinning of most areas of the perifovea. A trend for foveal thickening in the high myopia group is also inferred, although this does not apply to the low and moderate myopia groups.Key words: axial lengthrefractionmacularmyopiaoptical coherence tomographyvitreous chamber depth ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe are grateful to Professor Dato' (Dr) V Ramani, Medical Director of THONEH, who consented to our use of Stratus OCT, which was the only one available in Malaysia at the time of study. We also like to thank Mrs Rajmani, who taught us how to handle the OCT apparatus, ophthalmic assistants, staff nurses and all the subjects for their contributions to the study.