Determinants of lamina cribrosa depth in healthy Asian eyes: the Singapore Epidemiology Eye Study.

To investigate the determinants of lamina cribrosa depth (LCD) in healthy eyes of Chinese and Indian Singaporean adults. The optic nerve head (ONH) of the right eye of 1396 subjects (628 Chinese and 768 Indian subjects) was imaged with optical coherence tomography (OCT, Spectralis, Heidelberg, Germany). LCD was defined as the distance from the Bruch's membrane opening (LCD-BMO) or the peripapillary sclera (LCD-PPS) reference plane to the laminar surface. A linear regression model was used to evaluate the relationship between the LCD and its determinants. Both LCDs were significantly different between the two races (LCD-BMO: 421.95 (95% CI 365.32 to 491.79) µm in Chinese vs 430.39 (367.46-509.81) µm in Indians, p=0.021; and LCD-PPS: 353.34 (300.98-421.45) µm in Chinese vs 376.76 (313.39-459.78) µm in Indians, p<0.001). In the multivariable regression analysis, the LCD-PPS of the whole cohort was independently associated with females (β=-31.93, p<0.001), Indians subjects (β=21.39, p=0.004) (Chinese as the reference), axial length (Axl) (β=-6.68, p=0.032), retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (RNFL) (β=0.71, p=0.019), choroidal thickness (ChT) (β=0.41, p<0.001), vertical cup disc ratio (VCDR) (β=24.42, p<0.001) and disc size (β=-60.75, p=0.001). For every 1 year older in age, the LCD-PPS was deeper on average by 1.95 µm in Chinese subjects (p=0.01) but there was no association in Indians subjects (p=0.851). The LCD was influenced by age, gender, race, Axl, RNFL, ChT, VCDR and disc size. This normative LCD database may facilitate a more accurate assessment of ONH cupping using OCT in Asian populations.

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Competing interests: None declared.