Impact of high myopia on the performance of SD-OCT parameters to detect glaucoma.

Background

The aim was to evaluate the effects of high myopia on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) parameters, as well as on their ability to detect glaucoma.

Methods

Ninety-three glaucoma and 86 non-glaucoma patients were divided into highly myopic group (HMG; 90 subjects, ≤ -5 diopters [D]) and emmetropic (EG; 89 subjects, spherical equivalent ≤1 D and  ≥ -1D) groups in this cross-sectional comparative study. Macular ganglion cell complex (GCC) and circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (cpRNFL) measurements obtained from the algorithms of the SD-OCT system were compared. The effects of refractive errors and glaucoma were assessed using a generalized linear model, after adjusting for age. A receiver operating characteristic curve was constructed for each parameter, and the areas under the curves (AUCs) were compared.

Results

The all cpRNFL measurements were significantly related to both refractive errors and glaucoma, while all GCC parameters were not significantly related to the refractive errors. The AUC for average GCC thickness was similar between the HMG (AUC, 0.935) and EG (AUC, 0.933), while the AUC for average cpRNFL thickness differed significantly (p = 0.028) between the HMG (AUC, 0.827) and EG (AUC, 0.939).

Conclusions

Macular GCC parameters showed good ability to detect glaucoma in both groups, whereas the ability of cpRNFL measurement in HMG subjects was inferior to that in EG subjects. Assessment of GCC parameters is a useful technique complementary to cpRNFL thickness assessment, for clinically evaluating patients with concomitant glaucoma and high myopia.