Prevalence of macular complications related to myopia – Results of a multicenter evaluation of myopic patients in eye clinics in France

Purpose: Uncorrected refractive errors are the first cause of vision impairment worldwide. High myopia is a frequent cause of sight‐threatening chorioretinal complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of macular complications, visual impairment and blindness in patients with myopia. Methods: A cross‐sectional multicenter study carried out in French eye clinics mainly dedicated to refractive errors. Myopia severity was defined as mild (−0.5 to −3 D), moderate (−3 to −6 D), high (−6 to −10 D) and very high (more than −10 D). Macular complications related to myopia included lacquer cracks, myopic choroidal neovascularization, chorioretinal atrophy and retinoschisis. The prevalences of macular complications, blindness and vision impairment were estimated with respect to degree of myopia and age. Eligibility criteria were myopia on the left eye of −0.5 D or more. Exclusion criteria included any missing data related to subjective refractive error, age, gender and any history of cataract or refractive surgery. Results: Data files from 198 641 myopic individuals with a mean age of 34 years (SD: 15 years) were analysed. The prevalence of mild, moderate, high and very high myopia was, respectively, 65.95%, 26.14%, 6.72% and 1.19%. The prevalence of macular complications in the high and very high myopia groups was 0.5% [0.39–0.64] and 4.27% [3.49–5.17]. The prevalence of blindness or vision impairment was observed in 10.10% [8.91–11.39%] of the very high myopic group. At 60 years old or over, the prevalences of blindness or vision impairment were, respectively, 9.75% [7.91–11.85%] and 25.71% [21.00–30.87%] in the high and very high myopia groups. Conclusions: This multicenter cross‐sectional study provides new insights in terms of prevalence of macular complications related to myopia. To our knowledge, this is one of the largest European studies focusing on individuals with myopia, particularly on the macular complications and the functional consequences in relation to myopia

Retinal microvascular alterations related to diabetes assessed by optical coherence tomography angiography: A cross-sectional analysis

International audienceFluorescein angiography has been so far the gold-standard test to assess diabetic macular ischemia (DMI), a cause of irreversible visual impairment in diabetic patients. The aim of this study was to investigate foveal avascular zone (FAZ) and perifoveal microcirculation changes in eyes with nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), a new and noninvasive vascular imaging technique.Cross-sectional study including eyes of diabetic patients with NPDR.All patients underwent medical history, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) measurement, slit-lamp and fundus examination, multicolor imaging, SD-OCT, and swept-source OCT. OCTA was performed in order to assess macular superficial and deep capillary plexus, and swept-source OCT was performed to evaluate the central choroidal thickness.Fifty-eight eyes of 35 patients with a mean age of 61.8 years (±12.1) with mean HbA1C level of 7.6% (±1.5) were included in this study. Among them, 19 eyes had mild NPDR, 24 eyes had moderate NPDR, and 15 eyes had severe NPDR. There was a significant progression between NPDR stages for FAZ grade (P < 0.0001), surface (P = 0.0036) and perimeter (P = 0.0001), and for superficial capillary plexus nonperfusion index (NPI) (P = 0.0009). Moreover, a significant correlation was found between NPI and BCVA (P = 0.007).OCT angiography is a useful noninvasive tool to explore early phases of diabetic retinopathy, which are not routinely explore with fluorescein angiography and not precisely enough with color photographs. NPI and foveal avascular zone parameters are correlated with glycated hemoglobin in patients with NPDR. If confirmed by further studies, these results could represent a mean to sensibilize diabetic patients to their disease