Effectiveness of Glaucoma Diagnostic Parameters from Spectral Domain-Optical Coherence Tomography of Myopic Patients

BACKGROUND: Currently, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) appears to be a new type of glaucoma diagnostic tool. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of glaucoma diagnostic parameters from SD-OCT of patients with different severities of myopia. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. A total of 248 participants (248 eyes) were enrolled, including 51 cases in the early primary open-angle glaucoma group, 79 cases in the control group (0.50 D to −0.50 D, excluding −0.50 D), 47 cases in the low-myopic group (−0.50 to −3.00 D, excluding −3.00 D), 43 cases in the moderate-myopic group (−3.00 to −6.00 D, excluding −6.00 D), and 28 cases in the high-myopic group (≤−6.00 D). All participants were examined using the Humphrey visual field test and SD-OCT. The SD-OCT parameters of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and ganglion cell complex were analyzed statistically using the receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: The AUC showed that the best parameters for the control and low-myopic groups were the inferior and inferior temporal RNFL thicknesses (AUC >0.94), respectively; for the moderate- and high-myopic groups, the best parameter was the temporal low RNFL thickness (AUC, 0.926 and 0.896, respectively). The AUC of the inferior parameters of the moderate-myopic group (0.864) was lower, ranked 15(th) among all RNFL parameters. When the sensitivity was fixed at 85%, the specificity of the inferior, superior, inferior temporal, and superior temporal quadrants was higher (>80%) in the control and low-myopic groups, while they were lower (20–60%) for the moderate- and high-myopia groups. The green color based on the OCT database was also less for the high-myopic group compared with that of other groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Glaucoma diagnostic parameters from SD-OCT were not clinically effective for the moderate- and high-myopic groups. The specificities were low. The moderate- and high-myopic groups require comprehensive analyses for the diagnoses of glaucoma. The SD-OCT database should be improved to better indicate the level of myopia based on the corresponding diopter readings.