Central corneal thickness associations with systemic factors: The Colombian glaucoma study

Abstract Objective: To establish Central Corneal Thickness associations with systemic factors in six cities of Colombia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Colombia among hypertensive and diabetic patients. Two thousand sixty-seven subjects older than 50 diagnosed with SH and DM were included. Participants underwent a complete ophthalmic examination, including intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement by Goldmann tonometry, Central Corneal Thickness (CCT), and Blood pressure. The glaucoma diagnosis was confirmed by structural and functional evidence. Results: In multiple regression analysis, a trend of thinner corneal thicknesses was observed, with increasing decades of life, 60 - 69 years (-7.14 microns (μm) p: 0.58), 70- 79 years (-2.05 μm p: 0.38), > 80 years (-7.3 p <0.056) being almost statistically significant only in patients older than 80 years. Female patients had thinner CCT (- 5.04 μm) than male patients. African- Colombian patients had thinner corneas (-9.6 μm) than mestizo patients (P= 0.002). Patients with migraine had thicker CCT (6.83 μm p <0.024) compared with no- migraine patients. Diabetic patients had thicker CCT (3.91 μm) than non-diabetic patients (P= 0.039). Finally, a 0.66 μm increase per mm hg of the systolic pressure (P=0.024) and a 0.99 μm decrease per mm hg of Systolic Perfusion Pressure (P=0.038) was observed, but no association was found between CCT and Systemic Hypertension. Conclusion: Our study highlights the relationship between systemic factors such as age, sex, race, DM, systolic blood pressure, migraine, and systolic perfusion pressure with an ocular biomarker such as CCT