Evaluation of retinal vascular density using OCTA in adolescents with myopia without maculopathy

Abstract

Abstract Background Myopia is a prevalent refractive disorder of the eye and is becoming a leading cause of visual impairment worldwide. The incidence of myopia has been increasing steadily over the past few decades, particularly in East Asia, and is projected to grow even more rapidly in the next 50 years. With advancements in technology, optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) has the potential to serve as a rapid, non-invasive imaging modality for assessing microvascular changes at the capillary level. Previous studies using OCTA have shown that retinal perfusion is reduced and the area of insufficient blood flow in the choriocapillaris is increased in myopia. However, these studies had limitations, such as a wide age range (25–83 years) and a small sample size (< 50 eyes).Methods OCTA was performed on a sample of 108 teenagers aged 9 to 12. The participants were divided into three groups: LM (spherical equivalence (SE) ≥ − 3D and ≤ -1D), MM (SE ≥ − 5.75D and ≤ -3.25D), and NM (SE ≤ -6.00D). Vascular densities in the macula, including the overall macula, fovea, parafovea, superior hemi, and inferior hemi, were measured in the superficial, deep, and choriocapillaris layers of the retina.Results The study found no significant differences in terms of gender, age, K1, and K2. However, significant differences in the axis length of the eyes (p < 0.001) were observed. The vessel length density analysis revealed no significant differences in the central, inner, and outer layers (p > 0.05). Similarly, the vessel density analysis showed no significant differences in the central, inner, and outer layers (p > 0.05).Conclusion The results indicate that there were no significant differences in macular vascular density among the three groups. This suggests that spherical equivalence does not impact the vascular density of the macula in healthy myopia.