RESEARCH ARTICLE Age-Related Changes in Ocular Blood Velocity in Suspects with Glaucomatous Optic Disc Appearance. Comparison with Healthy Subjects and Glaucoma Patients

Purpose To evaluate retrobulbar blood flow characteristics of glaucoma suspects with glaucomatous optic disc appearance (GODA) in comparison to healthy control group (CG) and primary open angle glaucoma patients (POAG) and assess the effect of age. Methods 145 patients from a single glaucoma clinic were enrolled and classified into two diagnostic groups (GODA and POAG). Third group of subjects consisted of 67 age matched individu-als (CG). Retrobulbar blood velocity measurement in central retinal artery was performed using color Doppler imaging (CDI). CDI images were processed in custom software leading a range of parameter estimates from a continuous waveform signal. The effect of age on the estimated parameters was evaluated with the stepwise forward regression and ANCOVA in which age was used as a continuous factor. One-way ANOVA was used to test for the differ-ences in the CDI parameters between the three considered groups. Correlation between restive index (RI) and pulsatility index (PI) was assessed with a bilinear fitting guaranteein