Association Between Subfoveal Choroidal Thickness, Reticular Pseudodrusen, and Geographic Atrophy in Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Objective: To compare subfoveal choroidal thickness (CT) measurements in eyes with nonexudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the presence or absence of reticular pseudodrusen (RPD).

Methods: Subfoveal CT measurements obtained from patients with AMD enrolled in the COMPLETE study (30 drusen-only eyes and 30 eyes with geographic atrophy [GA]) were compared with an age-distributed normal control group. Multimodal images were evaluated to detect the presence of RPD.

Results: After controlling for age and axial length, the mean CT was significantly thinner in the GA group with RPD (213.7 ± 53.1 µm) than in the GA group without RPD (335.3 ± 123.2 µm; P = .001). The mean CT in the GA group without RPD was not statistically different from the mean CT in the normal control group (P = .076) or the drusen group without RPD (P = .45). In eyes without RPD, there was a correlation between the increasing size of GA and a decrease in CT measurements.

Conclusions: Subfoveal choroidal thinning in eyes with nonexudative AMD was associated with the presence of RPD. In the absence of RPD, CT only decreased as the size of GA increased.