The Correlations of Macular Structure Characteristics With Idiopathic Epiretinal Membrane and Its Sexual Preference—A Matched Comparison Study

PURPOSE: To measure the anatomical characteristics of the macula in fellow eyes of patients with unilateral idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM) and to compare them with normal controls. METHODS: A total of 83 fellow eyes with unilateral idiopathic ERM were gathered as the study group, and their age- and sex-matched subjects with no vitreomacular diseases were recruited as the control group. Macular structure parameters including foveal base width (FBW), central foveolar thickness (CFT), central subfield thickness (CST), area of foveal avascular zone (FAZ), and retinal artery trajectory (RAT) were measured using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography and were compared between two groups. RESULTS: For the study group, the FBW (463.8 ± 79.6 µm) and area of FAZ (0.39 ± 0.12 mm(2)) were significantly larger than those in the control group (334.3 ± 76.5 µm, 0.31 ± 0.13 mm(2)). Their CST was thinner and their RAT was wider than those of the control group (P < 0.05 for all). In the normal population, females had a wider FBW, a thinner CFT, and a wider RAT than males (P < 0.05 for all). CONCLUSIONS: Fellow eyes of the unilateral ERM had a larger FBW, a larger FAZ, a thinner CST, and a wider RAT than the normal population. This implicates that some centrifugal tractional force may exist on their macula, which eventually may result in the formation of idiopathic ERM. Females had a wider FBW, a thinner CFT, and a wider RAT than males, which may explain the higher prevalence of idiopathic ERM in females.