Factors influencing corneal endothelial cell density

Older age, male gender, higher intraocular pressure, and a history of outdoor work has been identified as factors correlated with lower endothelial cell density (ECD) in a population-based study of Japanese residents.
Akiko Higa and colleagues examined all residents at least 40 years of age who lived on Kumejima Island (Japan); there were 3,762 residents who underwent full ophthalmologic exams. Of primary interest to the researchers: determining the factors correlated to ECD.
“To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports of normal ECD values or its distribution across age, sex, and related factors in a population-based setting,” they wrote in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
Mean age at baseline was 59.1 years, with 1,929 women enrolled. The mean ECD among all normal participants was 2943 cells/mm2, with a “significant inter-sex difference after adjusting for age.” Men had a mean ECD of 2927 cells/mm2, and women had a mean ECD of 2959 cells/mm2. Other factors influencing the outcomes: age was “significantly negatively” correlated with ECD, and this group of people had a cell loss rate of 0.25% per year of age. Higher intraocular pressure was significantly correlated with a lower ECD, and thicker corneas were significantly associated with higher ECDs.
The authors note the mean ECD in western countries is lower than in this study, but mean ECDs are higher in East Asian countries than found in this study.
“Our findings support the existence of interracial differences in mean ECD,” they said. Further, “racial differences may exist in the cell loss rate per year of age as well as in the mean ECD,” they said, citing loss rates of 0.5–0.6% in western countries and 0.3% in Chinese and Indian studies.

Source: Am J Ophthalmol. 2010;149:794-799.
Reported by: EyeWorld News Services