Macular pigment optical density: repeatability, intereye correlation, and effect of ocular dominance

Abstract

PurposeTo evaluate short-term repeatability, intereye correlation, and effect of ocular dominance on macular pigment optical density (MPOD) measurements obtained using the QuantifEye Heterochromatic Flicker Photometer.Patients and methodsA total of 72 study participants were enrolled in this prospective, cross-sectional study. Participants underwent a comprehensive ocular evaluation, including visual acuity, evaluation of ocular dominance, slit lamp examination, intraocular pressure measurement, and optic nerve head and macula analysis using optical coherence tomography and fundus photography. All study participants after initial training underwent MPOD measurement twice in both eyes in a randomized sequence. The repeatability was tested using Altman and Bland plots for first measurements with the second measurements for right eye and left eye and additionally by grouping eyes as a function of ocular dominance. The Pearson correlation coefficient was performed to assess the intereye correlation of MPOD values.ResultsThe mean age of study participants was 35.5 years (range 22–68 years). The mean MPOD measurements for OD (right eye) and OS (left eye) were 0.47 and 0.48, respectively, which followed a normal distribution (Shapiro–Wilk test, P=0.6 and 0.2). The 95% limits of agreement of Altman and Bland plots for the first and second measurements were −0.12 to +0.11 and −0.13 to +0.12 for OD and OS, respectively. The correlation coefficient of mean MPOD measurements of OD and OS was r statistic =0.94 (Pearson correlation coefficient P<0.0001; r2 0.89). The 95% limits of agreement of Altman and Bland plots when evaluated by laterality of eye or by ocular dominance were narrow, with limits of agreement ranging from −0.13 to +0.12.ConclusionThe MPOD measurements obtained using the QuantifEye show good short-term repeatability. There is excellent intereye correlation, indicating that the MPOD values of one eye data can predict the fellow eye value with 89% accuracy. The ocular dominance had no bearing on the outcome of this psychophysical test in ocular healthy eyes.

Visual Function and Macular Carotenoid Changes in Eyes with Retinal Drusen—An Open Label Randomized Controlled Trial to Compare a Micronized Lipid-Based Carotenoid Liquid Supplementation and AREDS-2 Formula

“…Although it is commonly used clinically, it is prone to error due to its subjective nature. Heterochromatic flicker photometry due to its small footprint is perhaps most common clinical device utilized to measure MPOD [4,8,10,15,16,26,41,44,45,48,66,67,72,73]. However, objective techniques such as dual-wavelength autofluorescence [74] or macular pigment reflectometry [21,75,76] could decrease variability in results, given that the participants in this study were clinical patients and not trained participants in a psychophysical study.…”

Macular pigment optical density in a Brazilian sample

“…This is in line with findings described in the literature [ 28 – 30 ]. In fact, Davey et al [ 31 ] report that MPOD values found in one eye can work as a predictive factor of the values in the other eye with 89% precision and that, clinically, the measurements of only one eye could be an indicator of MPOD measurements in healthy individuals.…”

Correlations between internal and external ocular factors and macular pigment optical density

“…Previous studies tried to see if ocular dominance can influence MP density [ 27 ]. Even though it is known that ocular dominance can influence visual performances, there is no proven data that can demonstrate a significant relationship between MP density and ocular dominance [ 24 ].…”