The Relationship Between Reticular Macular Disease and Choroidal Thickness

Purpose: Subretinal drusenoid deposits (SDD) are the main structural lesion of reticular macular disease (RMD), a phenotype of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). We aim to demonstrate spatiotemporal relationships between SDD and choroidal thickness (CTh) alterations in RMD+ and RMD- eyes.Methods: Thirty-three eyes (26 subjects) with early AMD/no SDD (RMD-) and 18 eyes (16 subjects) with early AMD/SDD (RMD+) underwent enhanced depth imaging spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) for CTh measurements at 11 points per scan, in 5 horizontal B scans, creating a grid of 55 points/eye. The 55 points were treated as a cluster, controlling within-subject correlation. Marginal generalized estimating equation modeling was used to estimate the association between CTh and RMD status. All eyes were divided by their median age (82 and >82 years) for stratified analyses.Results: CTh was not significantly reduced in RMD+ eyes compared with RMD- eyes (mean difference [MD] -16.84 m, P = 0.24). Among younger subjects, mean CTh was significantly reduced in RMD+ versus RMD- eyes (MD -53.72 m, P = 0.01). Conversely, among older subjects, there was no significant difference in CTh between RMD+ and RMD-.Conclusions: In RMD, the association of SDD and CTh alterations varies with age but not by macular region. Among younger subjects (<82 years old), CTh was significantly thinner in RMD+ versus RMD- eyes.