Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness Measured by Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography in Healthy Koreans

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To determine normal retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness by age and to investigate the relationships of the RNFL with clinical variables using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in healthy Koreans. METHODS: The peripapillary RNFL thicknesses were measured around the optic disc using consecutive circular B-scans with 3.5 mm diameter and automatically calculated using a SD-OCT. RESULTS: Three hundreds fifty-two eyes of 205 healthy subjects were included in the study and RNFL thickness were measured by SD-OCT. Overall average RNFL thickness was 100.2 ± 10.9 µm, and significantly and negatively correlated with age (r = −0.164, p = 0.002). The overall average RNFL thickness decrease per decade was 0.8 µm (95% confidence interval, −0.3 to −1.3, p = 0.019). Mean RNFL thickness of each quadrant was significantly correlated with axial length except in the superior quadrant. CONCLUSIONS: This study describes the normal RNFL thickness values of Koreans as determined by SD-OCT. Furthermore, age was found to be correlated with normal RNFL thickness, however age-related changes were not uniform across every region.