Central corneal thickness of Pakistani adults.
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.
Channa
Roomasa
R
Section of Ophthalmology, Department of Surgery, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, Karachi, Pakistan.
Mir
Fazia
F
Shah
Mahnaz Naveed
MN
Ali
Azam
A
Ahmad
Khabir
K
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