title: Central corneal thickness of Pakistani adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the average central corneal thickness (CCT) of healthy adults in the ophthalmology clinic of a tertiary care hospital of Pakistan.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the ophthalmology clinics of Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi Pakistan. One hundred normal subjects (200 eyes) were studied. An ultrasound pachymeter was used to measure CCT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean (+/- SD) age of the study population was 44.29 +/- 15.18 years with a median of 47 years (range: 16-73). Twenty three percent of the subjects had diabetes mellitus, 29% hypertension and 6% had history of ischaemic heart disease. The mean (SD) CCT measurements were 531.08 +/- 33.37) and 531.29 +/- 33.33 micrometers in the right and left eyes respectively and were not significantly different from each other. There was no statistically significant correlation between CCT and IOP (r = 0.158, p = 0.12). We did not find a significant association between CCT and other independent variables like age, sex, presence of co-morbidity i.e. Diabetes Mellitus (DM), Hypertension (HTN), Ischaemic Heart Disease (IHD), myopia, hypermetropia, systemic and eye medication use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The average CCT values obtained in the hospital-based study closely match those of the African Americans. A population-based study would be needed to provide unbiased CCT estimate in Pakistani population.
authors.affiliation: Section of Ophthalmology, Department of Surgery, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Roomasa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Channa
authors.forename: Fazia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mir
authors.forename: Mahnaz Naveed
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Azam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Khabir
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ahmad
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003315:Cornea / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan; D014065:Tonometry, Ocular; D014463:Ultrasonography; D055815:Young Adult