A meta-analysis found thinner retinal nerve fibre layers in people with ALS
Original source
A systematic review and meta-analysis of OCT-based ophthalmic changes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. (opens in a new tab)Compass summarised this from the study's abstract.
Study details
- Studied in
- Human
Population inferred from the title and abstract by Compass.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 17 studies found that people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) had thinner retinal nerve fibre layers than healthy controls on optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans. The difference was particularly marked in people with spinal-onset ALS. The findings support retinal changes as part of ALS-related neurodegeneration, but do not establish OCT as a clinical biomarker or change treatment.
Why this matters
OCT may help researchers study ALS-related changes outside the motor system and investigate potential disease biomarkers. However, this analysis does not show that OCT can diagnose ALS, predict an individual’s course, or guide treatment.
Limitations and context
The analysis combined 17 studies with potentially differing methods and populations. Retinal thinning was statistically significant in the non-Asian subgroup, but the formal test for differences between regions was not significant. The findings show an association with ALS; further research is needed to establish whether OCT is useful in clinical care.