title: Macular thickness variations with sex, age, and axial length in healthy subjects: a spectral domain-optical coherence tomography study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the relationship between macular retinal thickness and volume and age, sex, and refractive error/axial length with spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  One randomly selected eye of 198 consecutive ophthalmically normal subjects (104 men, 94 women) between July 2008 and January 2009, with corrected visual acuities better than 20/30 were included in this cross-sectional study. Complete ophthalmic examination, axial length measurement with a laser interferometer, and macular cube 512 x 128 scan by SD-OCT were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age was 55.6 +/- 16.4 years (range, 17-83), average refractive error was -2.17 +/- 4.82 (range, -23.50-3.75), and average axial length was 24.73 +/- 1.98 mm (range, 21.52-32.51). The central subfield thickness, average inner macular thickness, and overall macular volume were significantly lower in the female subjects (partial correlation: P = 0.009, P = 0.027, and P = 0.042, respectively). As age increased, average inner macular thickness, average outer macular thickness, overall average macular thickness, and macular volume decreased significantly (partial correlation: P = 0.002, P = 0.002, P = 0.002, and P = 0.000, respectively). Refractive error had no significant influence in partial correlation analysis. Axial length correlated negatively with average outer macular thickness, overall average macular thickness, and macular volume (partial correlation: P = 0.006, P = 0.044, and P = 0.003, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In normal subjects, SD-OCT showed that retinal thickness is related to age, sex, and axial length, with regional variations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Institute of Vision Research, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Won Kyung
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Sung Chul
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Eun Suk
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chan Yun
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sung Soo
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005123:Eye / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008266:Macula Lutea / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000473:pathology; D012737:Sex Factors; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D055815:Young Adult