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Published on: May 25, 2020
Racial Differences in Detection of Glaucoma Using Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness and Bruch Membrane Opening
Nevin W El-Nimri1, Sasan Moghimi1, Takashi Nishida1
1From the Hamilton Glaucoma Center, Shiley Eye Institute, and the Viterbi Family Department of Ophthalmology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California (N.W.E.-N., S.M., T.N., A.Y., L.M.Z., H.H., J.P., E.W., R.N.W.).
Purpose:
To compare the sensitivities and specificities of the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) and Bruch membrane opening minimum rim width (BMO-MRW) reference database-based criteria for detection of glaucoma in individuals of European descent (ED) and individuals of African descent (AD).
Design:
Comparative diagnostic analysis by race METHODS: 382 eyes of 255 glaucoma patients (ED = 170, AD = 85) and 94 eyes of 50 healthy individuals (ED = 30, AD = 20) with global and sectoral RNFLT and BMO-MRW measured with Spectralis optical coherence tomography (OCT) were included. Six diagnostic criteria were evaluated: global measurement below the 5th or 1st percentile, ≥1 of the 6 sector measurements below the 5th or 1st percentile, and superotemporal (ST) and/or inferotemporal (IT) measurement below the 5th or 1st percentile. The sensitivities and specificities of these measurements for detection of glaucoma were compared using bootstrapping methods.
Results:
ST and/or IT RNFLT below the 5th percentile has the best performance for detection of glaucoma among RNFLT classifications with a sensitivity (95% CI) of 89.5% (86.1, 92.5) and specificity of 87.2% (77.8, 95.1). In AD individuals, sensitivities of ST and IT RNFLT and BMO-MRW measurements below the 5th percentile criteria were lower than in ED individuals (RNFLT: 83.7% vs 92.5%, and BMO-MRW: 72.1% vs 88.5%, respectively), as well as specificities (AD RNFLT: 73.7% and BMO-MRW: 89.5% vs ED RNFLT: 96.4% and BMO-MRW: 98.2%, respectively).
Conclusions:
RNFLT and BMO-MRW had consistently lower diagnostic performance in AD individuals compared with ED individuals. BMO-MRW criteria might fail to detect as many as one-third of eyes with glaucoma, specifically in AD individuals. With the current reference database, RNFLT, and especially BMO-MRW, criteria are not adequate for diagnosing glaucoma in AD individuals.
