Age-related changes of ocular parameters in an emmetropic Spanish healthy population

Purpose To evaluate the age-related variations of ocular parameters in an emmetropic Spanish healthy population. Methods We investigated 117 eyes of 117 healthy and emmetropic subjects. All patients were evaluated in the Department of Ophthalmology at the “Lozano Blesa” University Clinic Hospital, Zaragoza, Spain, between January and October 2013. Axial length (AL), refractive error (RE), subfoveal choroidal thickness (SCT), foveal thickness (FT) and foveal volume (FV) were measured by using auto-refractive keratometer, optical biometer and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), respectively. Results The mean RE was 0.09 ± 0.97 diopters (range, from -1.5 to +1.5 diopters); the mean AL was 23.08 ± 0.90 mm (range, 20.9-24.5 mm); the mean SCT was 278.9 ± 113.2 µm (range, 57- 527 µm), the mean FT was 266.6 ± 21.1 µm (range, 210-342 µm) and the mean FV was 0.20 ± 0.01 mm3 (range, 0.17-0.27 mm3). In correlation analysis, from 20 to 89 years, subjects showed a positive and statistically significant correlation between age and RE (r=0.262, p=0.004), a negative and statistically significant correlation between age an AL (r= - 0.198, p=0.045) and a negative correlation between age and SCT ( r= - 0.468, p<0.001). There were no significant correlations between age and FT (r= 0.006 p=0.972), and between age and FV (r= 0.046, p=0.773). Conclusion SCT and AL decreased with aging RE increased with age. No correlation was found between age and either FT or FV.