Central Corneal Thickness of Indigenous Australians Within Central Australia

Purpose To document the central corneal thickness (CCT) among a group of Indigenous Australians compared with a group of Australian Caucasian individuals. Design Clinic-based case-control study. Methods A total of 91 Indigenous Australians from remote clinics in Central Australia and 84 Caucasian subjects from a teaching hospital in South Australia were recruited. Each subject underwent ultrasound pachymetry, and results were compared between groups. Results Mean ± SD CCT for Indigenous Australians for right and left eyes, respectively, was 511 ± 34 μm and 513 ± 35 μm; and 541 ± 31 μm and 543 ± 33 μm in Caucasian subjects (t = 6.96; P < .0001 for right eyes and t = 6.56; P < .0001 for left eyes). Conclusions Indigenous Australians exhibit CCT that is significantly lower than that of Caucasian subjects. Given that Indigenous Australians are considered to be at very low risk of developing glaucoma, low CCT values alone may not be sufficient to increase the risk of developing glaucoma in a particular race.