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Establishing normal interocular symmetry range for macular optical coherence tomography parameters in healthy children

Eye volume 39, pages 563–569 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

The study aimed to evaluate the interocular symmetry of macular sublayer thickness among healthy children aged 6-12 years.

Methods

The Shiraz Pediatric Eye Study included 500 randomly selected children who underwent SD-OCT of the macula and optical biometry using the IOLMaster-500. Exclusion criteria involved ocular abnormalities or axial lengths outside the 21.5–26.5 mm range. Software recorded total retinal thickness and sublayer thickness within each ETDRS subfield.

Results

The study included 862 eyes from 431 healthy children, with 254 girls (59%). The anticipated variation in total retinal thickness between eyes was below 13 µm in the fovea and under 7 µm in the inner or outer ring for 95% of the population. For nerve fiber layer and inner plexiform layer, the expected variation ranged from 2 to 4 µm, and for the ganglion-cell layer, it ranged from 2.5 to 5 µm. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) rankings for retinal topography were highest in the outer ring, followed by the inner ring and fovea. The highest ICC for individual layers was found in overall retinal thickness, followed by inner retinal layers, outer-nuclear layer, inner plexiform layer, and inner nuclear layer.

Conclusions

The study establishes a reliable reference range for interocular variances in macular sublayers, aiding clinical decision-making. The outer ring (3–6 mm) is most dependable for analysing most sublayers, while the inner ring is most suitable for examining the ganglion-cell layer.

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Data availability

The data used during this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Poostchi Ophthalmology Research Center, Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Athar Zareei, Reza Razeghinejad, Mohammad Reza Talebnejad, Mohammad Reza Khalili, Masoumeh Sadat Masoumpour, Hamideh Mahdaviazad, Maryam Keshtkar, Elham Mohammadi, Zahra Tajbakhsh & M. Hossein Nowroozzadeh

  2. Glaucoma service, Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Reza Razeghinejad

  3. Department of Biostatistics, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Zahra Shayan

  4. Department of Optometry, School of Allied Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia

    Zahra Tajbakhsh

Authors
  1. Athar Zareei
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  2. Reza Razeghinejad
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  11. M. Hossein Nowroozzadeh
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Contributions

Conception and design: AZ, RR, MRT, MRK, MSM, MHN; Acquisition and interpretation of data: ZS, HM, MK, EM, ZT; Data analysis: MHN; Drafting: All authors; Critical reviewing: AZ, RR, MRT, MRK, MSM, MHN; Final approval: All authors; Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work: All authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Hossein Nowroozzadeh.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Zareei, A., Razeghinejad, R., Talebnejad, M.R. et al. Establishing normal interocular symmetry range for macular optical coherence tomography parameters in healthy children. Eye 39, 563–569 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-024-03591-3

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