High-Density Optical Coherence Tomography Analysis Provides Insights Into Early/Intermediate Age-Related Macular Degeneration Retinal Layer Changes

Purpose: To topographically map all of the thickness differences in individual retinal layers between early/intermediate age-related macular degeneration (AMDearly/AMDint) and normal eyes and to determine interlayer relationships. Methods: Ninety-six AMDtotal (48 AMDearly and 48 AMDint) and 96 normal eyes from 192 participants were propensity-score matched by age, sex, and refraction. Retrospective optical coherence tomography (OCT) macular cube scans were acquired, and high-density (60 × 60 0.01-mm2) grid thicknesses were custom extracted for comparison between AMDtotal and normal eyes corrected for confounding. Resultant "normal differences" underwent cluster, interlayer correlation, and dose-response analyses for the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL ...