AIM:To comprehensively investigate the relationship between outer retinal layer thickness and age in normal eyes.

METHODS: One hundred normal eyes of 100 subjects who underwent spectral-domain optical coherence tomography(SD-OCT)were included in this retrospective study. The distances between the external limiting membrane(ELM)line and the photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment(IS/OS)line(ELM-IS/OS), the IS/OS line and the cone outer segment tips(COST)line(IS/OS-COST), the COST line and the retinal pigment epithelium(RPE)complex(COST-RPE)and the full retinal thickness(RT)were measured at the fovea and on four quarters. The relationship between thickness and age or sex was then analysed.

RESULTS: A thinner RT was observed in women in a multiple regression analysis(men: 234.47±16.79 μm; women: 223.13±15.43 μm). The RT on the nasal quarter and the ELM-IS/OS thickness at the fovea and on the four quarters were significantly and negatively correlated with age. The IS/OS-COST and COST-RPE thicknesses at the fovea and on the four quarters were not significantly correlated with age or sex, respectively. The RT at the fovea was significantly thinner than on the four quarters. The ELM-IS/OS, IS/OS-COST and COST-RPE thicknesses at the fovea were significantly thicker than on the four quarters.

CONCLUSION: In normal eyes, the RT thickness on the nasal quarter and the ELM-IS/OS thickness were significantly and negatively correlated with age. The IS/OS-COST and COST-RPE thicknesses were not significantly correlated with age or sex.