Macular pigment optical density in a French population over 75 years old (MONTRACHET’s study: Maculopathy, Optic Nerve, nuTRition, neurovAsCular and HEarT diseases)

National audiencePurpose: The aim of our study was to describe the frequency of macular pigment distribution patterns in a french population‐based study over 75 years old. Methods: Three city study (3C) included 9294 subjects aged 65 years or more from three cities (Bordeaux, Dijon and Montpellier) in 1999. After a 10 year follow‐up, Dijon’s cohort had a complete ophthalmic examination in the MONTRACHET study. 1153 patients over 75 years were included. All patients had fundus photographs and macular pigment optical density measured by two‐wavelength autofluorescence. Pseudophakic patients without any retinal pathological conditions were included. In each patient, the eye with the best autofluorescence image quality was included. Results: One hundred fourty three eyes were selected (81 right eyes and 62 left eyes). Mean age was 82.0 ± 3.9 years, 71% (102) were women. Macular pigment optical density was 0.93 ± 0.22 density unit at the foveal center, 0.71 ± 0.20 density unit at 0.5° eccentricity, 0.59 ± 0.17 at 1°, 0.36 ± 0.12 at 2° and 0.09 ± 0.03 at 6°. Nineteen patients (13.3%) had ring‐like structure at mean 0.87 ± 0.19° eccentricity, 21 patients had intermediate distribution in density profile, 103 patients had strictly monotonic decline of macular pigment from the center to the periphery. There was no significant correlation between gender and macular pigment pattern (p = 0.36). Conclusion: This is the first study describing the frequency of the patterns of macular pigment distribution in an elderly pseudo‐phakic population. It would be useful to establish normative values in this age subgroup