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Subfoveal choroidal thickness may be predictor of visual acuity
Visual acuity may be predicted from subfoveal choroidal thickness, according to a study.
A retrospective analysis examined 35 eyes of 25 consecutive patients in New York and 110 eyes of 61 consecutive patients in Japan. All patients had myopia of 6 D or more.
Optical coherence tomography images were taken of the retina and choroid. Measurements of choroidal thickness, central foveal thickness and outer retinal hyporeflective layer thickness were taken from the horizontal section going directly through the center of the fovea.
Refractive error significantly correlated to subfoveal choroidal thickness in both the New York patients (P = .038) and the Japanese patients (P < .001). Inversely, subfoveal choroidal thickness significantly correlated to the logMAR visual acuity in both sets of patients (P = .041 and P = .001, respectively).
For all patients, subfoveal choroidal thickness was the only significant predictor for logMAR visual acuity (P ≤ .001).
“To prevent visual disturbance in highly myopic eyes, the mechanism of how increasing age and refraction affect choroidal thickness, and potentially choroidal blood flow, needs to be elucidated,” the study authors said.