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Multicenter Study
. 2006 Dec;124(12):1701-7.
doi: 10.1001/archopht.124.12.1701.

Diurnal variation in retinal thickening measurement by optical coherence tomography in center-involved diabetic macular edema

Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network  1 ; Ronald P Danis, Adam R Glassman, Lloyd Paul Aiello, Andrew N Antoszyk, Roy W Beck, David J Browning, Antonio P Ciardella, James L Kinyoun, Timothy J Murtha, Trexler M Topping, Michel Shami, George S Sharuk, John A Wells 3rd
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Diurnal variation in retinal thickening measurement by optical coherence tomography in center-involved diabetic macular edema

Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network et al. Arch Ophthalmol. 2006 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate diurnal variation in retinal thickness measured with optical coherence tomography (OCT) in patients with center-involved diabetic macular edema.

Methods: Serial OCT3 measurements were performed in 156 eyes of 96 subjects with clinically diagnosed diabetic macular edema and OCT central subfield retinal thickness of 225 microm or greater at 8 am. Central subfield thickness was measured from OCT3 retinal thickness maps at 6 points over a single day between 8 am and 4 pm. A change in central subfield thickening (observed thickness minus mean normal thickness) of at least 25% and of at least 50 microm at 2 consecutive points or between 8 am and 4 pm was considered to have met the composite outcome threshold.

Results: At 8 am, the mean central subfield thickness was 368 microm and the mean visual acuity was 66 letters (approximately 20/50). The mean change in relative central subfield retinal thickening between 8 am and 4 pm was a decrease of 6% (95% confidence interval, -9% to -3%) and the mean absolute change was a decrease of 13 microm (95% CI, -17 to -8). The absolute change was significantly greater in retinas that were thicker at 8 am (P<.001) but the relative change was not (P = .14). The composite threshold of reduction in central subfield thickening (as defined above) was observed in 5 eyes of 4 subjects (3% of eyes; 95% CI, 1% to 8%) while 2 eyes of 2 subjects (1%; 95% CI, 0% to 5%) had an increase in central subfield thickening of this same magnitude. The maximum decrease was observed at 4 pm in all 5 eyes.

Conclusion: Although on average there are slight decreases in retinal thickening during the day, most eyes with diabetic macular edema have little meaningful change in OCT central subfield thickening between 8 am and 4 pm.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Box-whisker plot demonstrating mean (dashed horizontal line), median (solid horizontal line), 25–75th percentiles (extremes of the box), 10–90th percentiles (whiskers), and 5–95th percentiles (solid circles) for change in central subfield thickening from baseline at each time point.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Central Subfield Thickness throughout the Day for Eyes with Relative Decrease ≥25% and Absolute Decrease ≥50 Microns
Figure 3
Figure 3
Absolute Change in Central Subfield Thickening from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. by 8 a.m. The solid line represents the regression line and the dotted lines represent the 95% confidence interval for the mean.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Box-whisker plot demonstrating mean (dashed horizontal line), median (solid horizontal line), 25–75th percentiles (extremes of the box), 10–90th percentiles (whiskers), and 5–95th percentiles (solid circles) for change in visual acuity from baseline at each time point.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Absolute Change in Central Subfield Thickening on OCT versus Change in Visual Acuity from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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