MAR 01, 2020
RNFL in Healthy Black South African Eyes
By Arthur Stone
Selected By: Prem S. Subramanian, MD, PhD
Retina/Vitreous
Journal Highlights
Eye
Published online Nov. 13, 2019
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Ismail et al. measured retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in normal black South African patients via spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and compared it to reference RNFL values in an age- and gender-matched European normative database. They found that RNFL thickness in their study population is clinically and statistically significantly thicker than those measurements contained in the built-in European database.
For this cross-sectional study, conducted from January 2017 to December 2018, the researchers enrolled 132 patients (132 eyes). The mean age of the patients was 41.3 years, and 54 (40.9%) were male. The researchers used the Spectralis SD-OCT machine.
All RNFL sectors except the temporal sector were significantly thicker than the reference database and measured as follows: global (108.7 µm, p < 0.001), superotemporal (152.4 µm, p < 0.001), superonasal (132.6 µm, p < 0.001), inferotemporal (150.1 µm, p < 0.001), inferonasal (129.2 µm, p < 0.001), nasal (77.7 µm, p < 0.001), and temporal (74.8 µm, p = 0.9534).
The researchers caution that use of the built-in European database as a comparison across all population groups could lead to erroneous results, as it cannot be assumed that the normative values for non-European populations are the same as their European counterparts. In addition, these databases are machine-specific and not universally applicable.
Finally, the authors said, the difference in the 1st and 5th percentiles of the study population, when compared to the reference values of the built-in database, is large enough to warrant requiring African-specific databases to avoid underdiagnosis of glaucoma and other diseases causing RNFL thinning. Additional studies are required to confirm these finding in black patients.
The original article can be found here.