Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in normal, ocular hypertensive, and glaucomatous Indian eyes: an optical coherence tomography study

PURPOSE: To determine retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurements in normal, ocular hypertensive (OHT), and glaucomatous Asian Indian eyes. METHODS: This prospective observational cross-sectional study included patients with OHT, primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), and age-matched normal controls. The global and 4-quadrant average RNFL thickness was measured using the Stratus OCT. The main outcome measures were differences in RNFL thickness measurements between the 3 groups. The discriminating power of each parameter was evaluated by calculating areas under receiver operating characteristic curves (AROCs). RESULTS: Twenty-three eyes of 23 POAG patients, 24 eyes of 24 OHT, and 48 eyes of 48 normal controls were analyzed. The superior, inferior, and global RNFL measurements were significantly thinner in OHTs compared with normals (P=0.031, 0.019, and 0.022, respectively). All 5 RNFL parameters were significantly thinner in the POAG group compared with OHT group (P<0.001). Parameters with largest AROCs for distinguishing glaucoma from OHT were average and inferior average RNFL measurements (0.989 and 0.979, respectively). Inferior and superior RNFL measurements had largest AROCs (0.717 and 0.700, respectively) to distinguish OHT from normal eyes. CONCLUSIONS: Stratus OCT detected significant quantitative differences in RNFL thickness between normal, OHT, and glaucomatous Asian Indian eyes.