Choroidal structural changes and choroidal vascularity index in patients with systemic hypertension

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the impact of systemic hypertension on the choroidal structure and choroidal vascularity index (CVI). Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study comprised 50 eyes of 50 treatment-naive hypertensive patients and 50 eyes of 50 healthy subjects. Choroidal thickness (CT) was measured in the subfoveal region, 1500 µm nasal to the fovea, and 1500 µm temporal to the fovea. Binarization of the enhanced depth-optical coherence tomography images was performed with Image-J software. The CT, choroidal area (CA), luminal area (LA), and CVI were compared statistically. Results: The mean subfoveal, nasal, and temporal CT were decreased in the patient group (p 0.003, 0.026, and 0.001, respectively). The mean CA, LA, and CVI were decreased in the patient group in comparison to controls ( p = 0.047, 0.009, and 0.016 respectively). The correlation between the subfoveal CT and systolic blood pressure was significant ( r = −0.450, p < 0.001). There was a significant correlation between the systolic blood pressure and CVI ( r = −0.401, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The significant decrease in the structural parameters and CVI show that choroid is affected in patients with treatment-naive hypertension.

Choroidal thickness in patients with systemic arterial hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The electronic database search identified 1011 studies. After screening, a total of six studies 21 – 26 met the inclusion criteria. Individual study characteristics are presented in Table 1 .…”

“…The quality assessment scores of the NOS are shown in Table 1 . Three studies 23 – 25 included in the analyses were of high quality, featuring a score equal or higher of seven and the remaining three 21 , 22 , 26 were of medium quality.…”

“…The electronic database search identified 1011 studies. After screening, a total of six studies [21][22][23][24][25][26] met the inclusion criteria.…”

“…Although it is known that CT demonstrates diurnal variation in normal eyes 34 whether accompanying circadian changes in BP are associated with this variation or not, remains unsettled, since small observational studies report contradictory results. 35 – 39 Taking into account the timing of CT measurement would have been of interest in our analysis, yet only two studies 21 , 26 report the time of the day at which the patients underwent OCT evaluation.…”

Choroidal Assessment in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Non-Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy by Swept-Source Ocular Coherence Tomography and Image Binarization

“…These findings could prove that CVI, regardless of the area of assessment, is a stable and reliable indicator of choroidal changes in the presence of DM. However, Aşıkgarip et al found that HBP in treatment-naive patients impacts the SF-CT, LA and CVI and reported a negative correlation between choroidal parameters and HBP [ 55 ]. In our study, both SF-CT and CVI were not associated with the presence of HBP.…”