Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to estimate the correlations between macular optical coherence tomography (OCT)-derived metrics and incident glaucoma risk in myopic eyes.</p>
Methods: This longitudinal observational study included 24,181 individuals with myopia (spherical equivalence [SE] ≤ -0.5 diopters [D]) from the UK Biobank study.</p>
Results: Participants (mean age = 55.5 ± 8.0 years, 54.5% women) were followed up for 13.2 ± 1.2 years and incident glaucoma was diagnosed in 582 eyes. Those who developed glaucoma were significantly older (P < 0.001), more likely to be male participants (P < 0.001), and had more pronounced myopic refractive error (P < 0.001). Cox regression analyses indicated that participants with thinner retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL; hazard ratio [HR] = 0.97, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.96-0.99, P < 0.001), thinner ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL; HR = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.96-0.98, P < 0.001), and thinner ganglion cell complex (GCC; HR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.97-0.99, P < 0.001) had an increasing risk of incident glaucoma after adjustment for age, sex, ethnic group, and SE. Meanwhile, the thicker inner nuclear layer (INL; HR = 1.03, 95% CI = 1.01-1.05, P = 0.002) and photoreceptor segments (PS; HR = 1.03, 95% CI = 1.01-1.06, P = 0.024) were positive for the incidence of glaucoma.</p>
Conclusions: This longitudinal study suggested that baseline RNFL, GCIPL, GCC, INL, and PS thickness were significant predictors for the incidence of glaucoma among myopic participants, which indicated a pattern of internal layer thinning (except INL) and outer layer thickening in these pre-glaucoma participants.</p>
Translational Relevance: Our study highlighted the potential of OCT-derived indicators for early glaucoma risk assessment and clinical monitoring.</p>