Characteristics of the Corneal Endothelium in Elderly Adults with High Myopia.

Abstract

This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the corneal endothelial characteristics in elderly individuals with high myopia. We assessed corneal endothelial characteristics in 1065 eyes of 1065 elderly patients (549 highly myopic and 516 control eyes) using non-contact specular microscopy. Confirmation of suspected Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) was performed with slit-lamp and confocal microscopy. Highly myopic eyes exhibited significantly greater central endothelial cell density (ECD) and coefficient of variation (CV) (p = 0.001 and p = 0.002, respectively), and lower average cell area (AVG) and percent of hexagonality (HEX) (p = 0.014 and p < 0.001, respectively) compared to control eyes. After adjusting for age and gender, axial length (AL) was positively correlated with ECD and CV (r = 0.130, p < 0.001 and r = 0.113, p < 0.001, respectively), and was negatively correlated with AVG and HEX (r = - 0.105, p = 0.001 and r = - 0.204, p < 0.001, respectively). FECD prevalence was 4.92% in highly myopic eyes and 3.29% in controls, with more advanced cases in highly myopic eyes (p = 0.036). In conclusion, longer AL was associated with increased corneal ECD, and greater endothelial pleomorphism and polymegethism in elderly patients. Highly myopic eyes appeared to have higher prevalence and severity of FECD. The study was registered on www.clinicaltrials.gov on February 26, 2017, with the registration number NCT03062085.