Diagnosticians should consider varying macular thickness, volume among Chinese children

Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2011;52(9):6377-6383.

Macular thickness and volume may be normally distributed among Chinese children, with variations among the two sexes and in spherical equivalent refraction, a study found.

The sample drew 806 participants from six randomly selected primary schools in China. Optical coherence tomography produced high-quality scans of right eyes in 720 children (89.3%), demonstrating normal distribution of macular thickness and volume and a mean foveal minimum thickness of 140 ± 12.3 µm.

Significant differences were shown between boys and girls regarding mean foveal volume, sectoral macular thickness in all quadrants of the inner ring and temporal outer quadrant, with boys having thicker retinas overall.

Spherical equivalent refraction correlated positively with inner and outer macular thickness, as well as total macular volume. By contrast, it correlated negatively with central macular volume.

Comparing this data to that of small studies of white children and two large population-based studies of multiracial children showed approximately 14.9- to 26-µm thinner mean foveal minimum in Chinese children. Mean foveal macular thickness was also thinner for Chinese children in comparison to white children but not African-American children, who have slightly thinner foveal macular thickness.