Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Nov 15, 2024; 15(11): 2251-2254
Published online Nov 15, 2024. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v15.i11.2251
Relationship between age and subfoveal choroidal thickness and its clinical implications
Sony Sinha, Prateek Nishant, Arvind K Morya, Arshi Singh
Sony Sinha, Department of Ophthalmology-Vitreo-Retina, Neuro-Ophthalmology and Oculoplasty, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna 801507, Bihar, India
Prateek Nishant, Department of Ophthalmology, ESIC Medical College, Patna 801103, Bihar, India
Arvind K Morya, Department of Ophthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad 508126, Telangana, India
Arshi Singh, Department of Ophthalmology, Guru Nanak Eye Centre, New Delhi 110001, New Delhi, India
Author contributions: Sinha S and Morya AK designed the research; Nishant P and Singh A conducted literature search; Nishant P drafted the letter; Sinha S and Nishant P drafted the letter; All authors reviewed the final submitted version of the manuscript and agree to be held accountable for all aspects of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Arvind K Morya, Doctor, Academic Editor, Department of Oph-thalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bibi Nagar, Hyderabad 508126, Telangana, India. bulbul.morya@gmail.com
Received: July 31, 2024
Revised: September 17, 2024
Accepted: September 23, 2024
Published online: November 15, 2024
Processing time: 78 Days and 20 Hours
Abstract

The retrospective study by Lei et al is an investigation of the relationship between age and subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) in Chinese patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Elements of the study design prevent the generalizability of the study findings, limiting their clinical implications. We recommend consideration of stricter eligibility criteria, other variables like duration of diabetes, interpretation of gender-differences in SFCT, longitudinal follow-up, use of newer choroidal flow indices, comparison of values with normal controls, subgroup analysis to determine the effect of prior treatment, as well as consideration of various real-world scenarios in future studies.

Keywords: Diabetic retinopathy; Optical coherence tomography; Phenotypic sex; Research design; Visual acuity

Core Tip: The retrospective study by Lei et al is an investigation of the relationship between age and subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) in Chinese patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Elements of the study design prevent the generalizability of the study findings, limiting their clinical implications. We recommend consideration of stricter eligibility criteria, other variables like duration of diabetes, interpretation of gender-differences in SFCT, longitudinal follow-up, use of newer choroidal flow indices, comparison of values with normal controls, subgroup analysis to determine the effect of prior treatment, as well as consideration of various real-world scenarios in future studies.