Associations with photoreceptor thickness measures in the UK Biobank

Sharon Y L Chua,Konstantinos Balaskas,Pearse A Keane,Paul J Foster,Adnan Tufail,Charles Reisman,Praveen J Patel,Qi Yang,Tariq Aslam,Baljean Dhillon

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-55484-1

Abstract

Spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT) provides high resolution images enabling identification of individual retinal layers. We included 32,923 participants aged 40–69 years old from UK Biobank. Questionnaires, physical examination, and eye examination including SD-OCT imaging were performed. SD OCT measured photoreceptor layer thickness includes photoreceptor layer thickness: inner nuclear layer-retinal pigment epithelium (INL-RPE) and the specific sublayers of the photoreceptor: inner nuclear layer-external limiting membrane (INL-ELM); external limiting membrane-inner segment outer segment (ELM-ISOS); and inner segment outer segment-retinal pigment epithelium (ISOS-RPE). In multivariate regression models, the total average INL-RPE was observed to be thinner in older aged, females, Black ethnicity, smokers, participants with higher systolic blood pressure, more negative refractive error, lower IOPcc and lower corneal hysteresis. The overall INL-ELM, ELM-ISOS and ISOS-RPE thickness was significantly associated with sex and race. Total average of INL-ELM thickness was additionally associated with age and refractive error, while ELM-ISOS was additionally associated with age, smoking status, SBP and refractive error; and ISOS-RPE was additionally associated with smoking status, IOPcc and corneal hysteresis. Hence, we found novel associations of ethnicity, smoking, systolic blood pressure, refraction, IOPcc and corneal hysteresis with photoreceptor thickness.

Highlights

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging has transformed our understanding of diseases affecting the vitreous, retina and choroid
Other studies using spectral-domain (SD) OCT reported the thickness of outer nuclear layer (ONL) in the fovea is associated with visual acuity loss in ocular diseases such as central serous retinopathy[8,9], polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy[12], and epiretinal membrane[13,14]
We report normal photoreceptor thickness metrics for 4 distinct photoreceptor related layers (INL-RPE, inner nuclear layer-external limiting membrane (INL-external limiting membrane (ELM)), ELM-ISOS and ISOS-RPE) using analysis of the largest known macular SD OCT dataset collected as part of the UK Biobank data resource

Summary

Introduction

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging has transformed our understanding of diseases affecting the vitreous, retina and choroid. It is a non-invasive, in vivo imaging modality which measures the optical reflectivity of the tissue of interest. Other studies using spectral-domain (SD) OCT reported the thickness of outer nuclear layer (ONL) in the fovea is associated with visual acuity loss in ocular diseases such as central serous retinopathy[8,9], polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy[12], and epiretinal membrane[13,14]. Examining ocular and systematic factors that affects photoreceptor layer thickness in normal aged eyes may allow the early detection of disease-related changes, and allowing earlier treatment of disease to reduce vision loss. This study aims to determine and describe the distribution of the photoreceptor layer among individuals with no ocular disease and to examine its association with demographic and risk factors in the UK Biobank data resource

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