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Influence of Axial Length on Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness Reduction in Different Age Groups Mei-Lan Ko¹, Pu-Neng Sun¹, Chien-Fan Fong¹, Wei-Wei Hsia¹, Yu-Sheng Hu¹, Meng-Kan Chen² Department of Ophthalmology¹, General Hsin Chu Hospital, Hsinchu, Taiwan Purpose: To investigate the influence of age and axial length on the retinal nerve fiver layer thickness (RNFLT) in healthy Taiwanese subjects. Methods: A total of 428 eyes from in 214 healthy subjects who satisfy the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included. The ocular fundus are scanned by using the Fast RNFL on a Fourier-domain optical coherence tomographer (3D OCT-1000, Topcon, Tokyo, Japan). The differences of mean RNFLT values among different age, axial length (AL< 26mm, ≧26mm), and spherical equivalent (SE) (high myopia group ≤ -6 diopter, non-high myopia group> -6 diopter) were compared and analyzed by using multi-variable linear regression models. Results: There was no difference of global average RNFLT between the right and left eyes (87.85±11.05μm; versus 89.17±10.52μm, P=0.206). After being adjusted by axial length and spherical equivalent, the RNFLT decreased 0.268μm (95%CI: -0.203, -0.333)/ year of age. The adjusted RNFLT was significantly thinner in the high myopia group than in the non-high myopia group. The mean difference between myopia groups was -6.470μm (95%CI: -3.715, -9.23). The adjusted RNFLT was significantly thinner in the high AL group than those in the non-high AL group. The mean difference between AL groups was -4.952μm (95%CI: -2.177, -7.727). The adjusted RNFLT decreased in 0.275 ± 0.037μm and 0.265 ± 0.065μm / year of age in non-high myopia group and myopia group, respectively (P = 0.999). Conclusion: High myopes had thinner RNFLT. Although both axial length and age affected the RNFLT, high myopes did not exacerbate the age-related decrease of RNFLT. |
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