Racial Differences in Detection of Glaucoma Using Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness and Bruch Membrane Opening Minimum Rim Width

Nevin W El-Nimri; Sasan Moghimi; Takashi Nishida; Adeleh Yarmohammadi; Linda M Zangwill; Huiyuan Hou; James Proudfoot; Evan Walker; Massimo A Fazio; Christopher A Girkin; Jeffrey M Liebmann; Robert N Weinreb

doi:10.1016/j.ajo.2022.10.010

Racial Differences in Detection of Glaucoma Using Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness and Bruch Membrane Opening Minimum Rim Width

Am J Ophthalmol. 2023 Feb:246:223-235. doi: 10.1016/j.ajo.2022.10.010. Epub 2022 Oct 29.

Affiliations

¹ From the Hamilton Glaucoma Center, Shiley Eye Institute, and the Viterbi Family Department of Ophthalmology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California (N.W.E.-N., S.M., T.N., A.Y., L.M.Z., H.H., J.P., E.W., R.N.W.).
² From the Hamilton Glaucoma Center, Shiley Eye Institute, and the Viterbi Family Department of Ophthalmology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California (N.W.E.-N., S.M., T.N., A.Y., L.M.Z., H.H., J.P., E.W., R.N.W.). Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama (M.A.F., C.A.G.) and.
⁴ Bernard and Shirlee Brown Glaucoma Research Laboratory, Department of Ophthalmology, Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York (J.M.L.), USA.

PMID: 36662535
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajo.2022.10.010

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the sensitivities and specificities of the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) and Bruch membrane opening minimum rim width (BMO-MRW) reference database-based criteria for detection of glaucoma in individuals of European descent (ED) and individuals of African descent (AD).

Design: Comparative diagnostic analysis by race METHODS: 382 eyes of 255 glaucoma patients (ED = 170, AD = 85) and 94 eyes of 50 healthy individuals (ED = 30, AD = 20) with global and sectoral RNFLT and BMO-MRW measured with Spectralis optical coherence tomography (OCT) were included. Six diagnostic criteria were evaluated: global measurement below the 5th or 1st percentile, ≥1 of the 6 sector measurements below the 5th or 1st percentile, and superotemporal (ST) and/or inferotemporal (IT) measurement below the 5th or 1st percentile. The sensitivities and specificities of these measurements for detection of glaucoma were compared using bootstrapping methods.

Results: ST and/or IT RNFLT below the 5th percentile has the best performance for detection of glaucoma among RNFLT classifications with a sensitivity (95% CI) of 89.5% (86.1, 92.5) and specificity of 87.2% (77.8, 95.1). In AD individuals, sensitivities of ST and IT RNFLT and BMO-MRW measurements below the 5th percentile criteria were lower than in ED individuals (RNFLT: 83.7% vs 92.5%, and BMO-MRW: 72.1% vs 88.5%, respectively), as well as specificities (AD RNFLT: 73.7% and BMO-MRW: 89.5% vs ED RNFLT: 96.4% and BMO-MRW: 98.2%, respectively).

Conclusions: RNFLT and BMO-MRW had consistently lower diagnostic performance in AD individuals compared with ED individuals. BMO-MRW criteria might fail to detect as many as one-third of eyes with glaucoma, specifically in AD individuals. With the current reference database, RNFLT, and especially BMO-MRW, criteria are not adequate for diagnosing glaucoma in AD individuals.