Steady-State Pattern Electroretinography in Eyes with Glaucoma and High Myopia

To investigate features of the steady-state pattern electroretinogram (ssPERG) in subjects with glaucoma (G), high myopia (HM; spherical equivalent ≤-6D) and glaucoma with high myopia (GHM).

Our study included 48 participants divided into 3 groups (G, HM, and GHM) who each underwent monocular ssPERG testing with Diopsys NOVA PERG protocols. The ConStim protocol detects distinct topographic patterns of dysfunction 16° and 24° around the central macula. MagD is the amplitude of the average signal and MagD/Mag ratio indicates the consistency of the response. ssPERG indices were compared between groups and correlated with functional (ie, visual field mean deviation (VFMD)) and structural (ie, average retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness; Cirrus optical coherence tomography) features.

Participants had an average age of 59.4±7.6 years. Mean Humphrey VFMD was -14.22 ± 2.88dB, -2.62 ± 1.18dB and -12.80 ± 2.60dB for G, HM and GHM groups, respectively. Mean RNFL thickness was 63.0 ± 8.20μm, 69.5 ± 15.7μm and 60.6 ± 5.0μm for G, HM and GHM groups, respectively. For the 24° setting, no significant differences were noted for any of the parameters. For the 16° setting, MagD was lower in the GHM group compared to the HM group (0.29µV vs 0.52µV; p = 0.02). Significant differences were noted for the MagD/Mag ratio between HM and G groups (0.58 vs 0.40; p = 0.02) and between HM and GHM groups (0.58 vs 0.35; p = 0.002). There were positive correlations between both MagD 16° and MagD/Mag ratio 16° with VFMD (correlation coefficient [r]=0.37, p = 0.009; and r = 0.44, p = 0.002, respectively) and RNFL (r = 0.43, p = 0.002; and r = 0.48, p = 0.001, respectively).

MagD/Mag ratio at 16° was significantly lower in glaucomatous eyes (with or without high myopia) compared to those with high myopia without glaucoma, suggesting that glaucoma has a distinct impact on MagD/Mag ratio at 16° irrespective of the presence of myopia.