Central corneal thickness and its relationship to the patient's origin

Objectives: To report central corneal thickness (CCT) measurements on patients requesting refractive surgery and to search for possible associations between CCT and patient's origin, age, sex, and preoperative data. Setting: Department of Ophthalmology, Soroka University Medical Center, and Enaim Refractive Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel. Methods: Subjects were patients undergoing preoperative examination at our refractive centre during 2003. Patient's age, sex, preoperative CCT, refractive status, keratometry, and intraocular pressure (IOP) were obtained together with country of origin of the patients and their parents. Main outcome measures were CCT measurements and relationship between CCT and patient's origin and preoperative data. Results: A total of 204 patients were included in the study. Patients of North African origin had statistically significantly thinner corneas than patients of other origins (518.9 ± 31.5 vs. 545.4 ± 30.4 μm in the right eye and 518.4 ± 32.1 vs. 546.3 ± 29.7 μm in the left eye; P < 0.00001). Patients of North African origin were significantly older than patients of other origins (P = 0.028). No differences were found when comparing for sex, intraocular pressure, refractive status, and keratometry. When multivariate analysis was performed patient's origin was the only independently associated factor associated with CCT. Conclusions: This is the first work in reporting lower CCT in people of North African origin examined in a refractive surgery centre. Studies from similar populations are needed to confirm our results.