Central corneal thickness and intraocular pressure in a Nepalese population: the Bhaktapur Glaucoma Study

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the characteristics of central corneal thickness and its association with age, sex, and intraocular pressure in a Nepalese population.

The study design was a cross-sectional, population-based survey. Two thousand three hundred thirty patients aged 40 years and older were examined at Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology, a tertiary referral eye centre in Kathmandu, Nepal. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmic examination that included measurements of central corneal thickness with an ultrasonic pachymeter and intraocular pressure with a Goldman type applanation tonometer.

The main outcome measures were central corneal thickness and intraocular pressure. Mean age of the 2330 patients examined was 51.3 years (SD±9.56). The mean central corneal thickness and mean intraocular pressure was 539.10 μm (SD±33.73) and 13.33 mm Hg (SD±2.26), respectively. Central corneal thickness showed an average decrease of 2.67 μm (95% confidence interval, 2.21-4.1) per decade increase in age. A 100 μm increase in central corneal thickness was associated with a 1.03 mm Hg (95% confidence interval, 0.79-1.26) increase in intraocular pressure after adjusting for age and sex.

The changes in central corneal thickness values cause a significant variation in intraocular pressure in this population, suggesting that measurement of central corneal thickness will have implications in the diagnosis and management of glaucoma.