The aim of this study is to determine the associations between regional macular thickness and gender, age, axial length, and degree of myopia in young and middle-aged healthy myopic eyes. One hundred and seventy-one subjects with -0.5 diopters of myopia or worse underwent prospective macular thickness measurement by Spectralis spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. Subjects' mean age was 32.40 ± 8.25 years (range 18 to 49 years), with 45 % being male. The mean degree of myopia was -4.57 ± 3.52 diopters, with a mean axial length of 25.09 ± 1.67 mm. Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated significantly thicker central (mean 9.13 µm thicker) and inner subfields (mean 8.55 µm thicker) in males (P values were <0.001 and 0.002, respectively). In addition, in both genders, for each millimeter of increased axial length, the central subfield thickness increased by 2.11 µm, the inner subfield decreased by 2.25 µm, and the outer subfield decreased by 3.62 µm (P values were 0.010, <0.001, and <0.001, respectively). Factors including gender and axial length affect baseline regional macular thickness in young and middle-age myopic subjects. The central subfield and inner subfield were affected by both gender and axial length, while the outer subfield was affected only by axial length. The macular thickness of myopic subjects with macular disease should be interpreted in light of these factors.
Keywords: Imaging; Macula; Myopia; Optical coherence tomography; Retina.