title: Characterizing retinal structure injury in African-Americans with multiple sclerosis.
abstract: To examine retinal structure injury in African-Americans (AA) with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) compared to Caucasians (CA) with MS, we used spectral domain optical-coherence tomography (OCT) in this cross sectional study. The peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) and macular volume of 234 MS patients (149 CA; 85 AA) and 74 healthy controls (60 CA; 17 AA) were measured. Intra-retinal segmentation was performed to obtain retinal nerve fiber (RNFL), ganglion cell (GCL), inner plexiform (IPL), inner nuclear (INL), outer plexiform (OPL), outer nuclear (ONL), retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), and photoreceptor (PR) layer volumes. Study was approved by IRB, and informed consent obtained from all participants. We found that pRNFL was thicker in AA v. CA healthy controls (100.9 vs 97.00μm, p=0.004). Compared to HC, MS patients demonstrated thinner pRNFL (p<0.0001), and lower TMV (p<0.001), macular RNFL (p<0.0001), GCL (p<0.0001), and IPL (p<0.0001). AAMS patients had thinner pRNFL (87.2 vs 90.0μm, and lower TMV (8.2 vs 8.4mm(3), p=0.0001), RNFL (0.73 vs 0.79mm(3), p=0.0001), and GCL (0.94 vs 0.98mm(3), p=0.007) than CAMS patients. Sub-analysis of patients without history of AON showed thinner pRNFL (88.9 vs 93.1µm) and TMV (8.2 vs. 8.5mm(3), p<0.0001) in AAMS compared to CAMS patients. In conclusion, this cross-sectional study provides evidence supporting greater retinal structure injury in AAMS compared to CAMS patients, irrespective of history of AON. Our findings are consistent with other studies demonstrating a more severe CNS tissue injury in AAMS patients.
authors.affiliation: Retinal Biology Program in Neurosciences and The Sastry Foundation Advanced Imaging Laboratory, United States; Multiple Sclerosis Center, Department of Neurology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, United States. Electronic address: naseraji@med.wayne.edu.
authors.forename: Navid
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Seraji-Bozorgzad
authors.affiliation: Retinal Biology Program in Neurosciences and The Sastry Foundation Advanced Imaging Laboratory, United States; Multiple Sclerosis Center, Department of Neurology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, United States.
authors.forename: Sheridan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.affiliation: Retinal Biology Program in Neurosciences and The Sastry Foundation Advanced Imaging Laboratory, United States.
authors.forename: Fen
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.affiliation: Multiple Sclerosis Center, Department of Neurology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, United States.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Santiago
authors.affiliation: Multiple Sclerosis Center, Department of Neurology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, United States.
authors.forename: Alexandros
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tselis
authors.affiliation: Multiple Sclerosis Center, Department of Neurology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, United States.
authors.forename: Evanthia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bernitsas
authors.affiliation: Retinal Biology Program in Neurosciences and The Sastry Foundation Advanced Imaging Laboratory, United States; Multiple Sclerosis Center, Department of Neurology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, United States.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caon
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, United States.
authors.forename: Elliot
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Frohman
authors.affiliation: Departments of Ophthalmology and Neurology, Duke Eye Center and Duke University Medical Center, Durham, United States.
authors.forename: M Tariq
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Bhatti
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, United States.
authors.forename: Bruce A C
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Cree
authors.affiliation: Retinal Biology Program in Neurosciences and The Sastry Foundation Advanced Imaging Laboratory, United States; Multiple Sclerosis Center, Department of Neurology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, United States.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000208:ethnology*; D012160:Retina / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000209:etiology; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D044465:White People
keywords: African-American; Health disparity; Multiple sclerosis; Optical coherence tomography; Retinal structure injury