Difference in central corneal thickness between the two eyes and the severity of damage in glaucoma patients.

Purpose:To evaluate whether a difference in central cornea thickness (CCT) could be associated to worse glaucoma in the eye with a thinner CCT. Methods:From 16 different glaucoma centers, at least 50 glaucomatous patients were saved on the Italian Glaucoma Register (IGR). 816 glaucomatous patients were included in the study. The diagnosis of glaucoma was based on visual field examination, optic nerve head analysis, intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements and gonioscopy. CCT, ophthalmoscopic cup/disc ratio (C/D), mean deviation (MD),pattern standard deviation (PSD) and intraocular pressure (IOP) were considered. The difference ( ) between the two eyes was calculated for all the considered parameters. Then the entire group was divided in two subgroups if the CCT was or < 20 um. Student’s t-test was used to compare the subgroups. Results:Between the two subgroups, no significant difference was found for IOP (0.08 +/-2.6 and 0.17 +/-2.6, respectively, p=0.751) and for C/D (0.01 +/-0.1 and 0.01 +/-0.1, respectively, p=0.624). Significant difference was found for MD (-1.41 +/-6.7 and 0.19 +/-6.2, respectively, p=0.019) and PSD (0.9 +/-4.1 and -0.06 +/-3.8, respectively, p=0.021). Conclusions:The difference of CCT between the two eyes could be associated to a worse glaucoma in the eye with a thinner CCT.