Profile of central corneal thickness and corneal endothelial cell morpho-density of in healthy Congolese eyes

PURPOSE: To determine the pachymetric and corneal endothelial cell morphometric features and their relationship to ocular and systemic factors in healthy Congolese subjects. METHODS: Non-contact specular microscopy was used in 278 healthy eyes (278 subjects) to measure central corneal thickness (CCT), corneal endothelial cell density (CECD) along with cell size, coefficient of variation (CV) in cell size, and hexagonality (HEX). The lower and upper reference limits and average values for each parameter were determined. Correlation and association of average values with anthropo-demographic and clinical variables were assessed. RESULTS: The mean age was 38.9 ± 17.2 years (10.9–80.7 years). Average values were 504.2 ± 30.7 μm (CCT), 2907.1 ± 290.9 cells/mm(2) (CECD), 348.5 ± 38.4 μm(2) (cell size), 32.9 ± 3.6% (CV), and 51.8 ± 7.2% (HEX). CCT was 504.9 ± 33.6 μm in men and 503.6 ± 28.3 μm in women (p = .73); values for CECD were 2917.1 ± 253.5 cells/mm(2) and 2899.2 ± 317.8 cells/mm(2) (p = 0.61), respectively. Lower and upper reference limits were 449.6 μm and 566.0 μm for CCT, and 2165.3 cells/mm(2) and 3414.4 cells/mm(2) for CECD, respectively. CCT correlated with body mass index (BMI), (r = − 0.12, P = 0.04). CECD decreased with age (r = − 0.49, P < 0.001), BMI (r = − 0.20, P = 0.001), intraocular pressure (r = − 0.13, P = 0.029) and ocular perfusion pressure (r = − 0.28, P = 0.028). CECD decayed by 8.3 cells/mm(2) or 0.30% per year of age and CCT decreased by 0.72 μm per kg/m(2). CONCLUSIONS: Mean central cornea was thinner, CECD higher, and references limits lower than reported in other African populations. The CCT and CECD normative values reported herein will be useful for both clinical and research purposes in this population. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12886-021-01947-x.