title: Macular thickness in healthy eyes of adults (N = 4508) and relation to sex, age and refraction: the Tromsø Eye Study (2007-2008).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide sex-stratified normative data on retinal thickness and study the relationship with sex, age and refractive status.
  
  
  METHODS
  Population-based study including 2617 women and 1891 men, aged 38-87 (mean 61 ± 8) years, without diabetes, glaucoma and retinal diseases, and spherical equivalent refraction (SER) within ±6 dioptres. Retinal thickness was measured with optical coherence tomography (spectral domain Cirrus HD-OCT).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women had thinner retina than men. Retinal thickness was significantly associated with refraction, where mean change in retinal thickness per 1 D increase in SER was -1.3 (0.2) μm in the fovea, 0.7 (0.1) μm in the pericentral ring and 1.4 (0.1) μm in the peripheral ring. In the fovea, there was a non-monotonic curved relationship between retinal thickness and age in both sexes with a maximum at about 60 years (p < 0.001). In the pericentral ring, the mean reduction in retinal thickness per 10-year increase was 2.7 (0.3) μm in women and 4.0 (0.4) μm in men and corresponding results in the peripheral ring were 2.3 (0.3) μm in women and 2.6 (0.4) μm in men. In both regions, there was evidence for a nonlinear pattern with an increased rate of change with higher age. There was a significant interaction between sex and age for retinal thickness of the pericentral ring (p = 0.041).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Women had thinner retina than men, and thickness varied with refractive status. Retinal thickness was associated with age in all macular regions, and the rate of change in retinal thickness varied at different ages.
authors.affiliation: Brain and Circulation Research Group, Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.|Department of Ophthalmology, Nordland Hospital, Bodø, Norway.
authors.forename: Therese
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: von Hanno
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Anette C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Lade
authors.affiliation: Brain and Circulation Research Group, Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.|Department of Neurology, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Ellisiv B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Mathiesen
authors.affiliation: Centre of Public Health, Queen's University, Belfast, UK.
authors.forename: Tunde
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Peto
authors.affiliation: Research Group of Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Inger
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Njølstad
authors.affiliation: Research Group of Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.|Department of Ophthalmology and Neurosurgery, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Geir
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bertelsen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008266:Macula Lutea / Q000166:cytology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012016:Reference Values; D012029:Refraction, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D014787:Vision Tests
keywords: age; epidemiology; optical coherence tomography; population based; refraction; retina; sex