Choroidal thickness in systemic arterial hypertension.
OBJECTIVE
To assess choroidal thickness changes in young adults with systemic arterial hypertension.


METHODS
This prospective study comprised 80 hypertensive patients and 80 healthy control subjects. Choroidal thickness was measured with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) (RS-3000, Nidek). Choroidal thickness was obtained at the subfovea, 500 µm, 1000 µm, and 1500 µm nasal to the fovea (N500, N1000, N1500) and 500 µm, 1000 µm, and 1500 µm temporal to the fovea (T500, T1000, T1500). Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were measured with a mercury sphygmomanometer. Only the right eye values were used for statistical comparisons between the groups.


RESULTS
Mean age was 23.8 ± 2.8 years in hypertensive subjects and 23.5 ± 2.1 years in the control group (p = 0.945). All choroidal thickness measurements (mean choroidal thickness, subfoveal choroidal thickness, all nasal and all temporal choroidal thicknesses) were significantly lower in hypertensive subjects (p&lt;0.001 for subfoveal, N500, T500, T1000, T1500; p = 0.001 for N1000; and p = 0.012 for N1500). The correlations between choroidal thickness measurements and blood pressure (SBP, DBP, MAP) were insignificant (p&gt;0.05 for all correlations). Choroidal thickness measurements were also insignificantly correlated with disease duration (p&gt;0.05 for all correlations).


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study demonstrated that choroidal thickness decreases in patients with systemic arterial hypertension. This may be caused by arteriolar sclerosis and vascular contraction caused by high intravascular pressure in the choroid.
Department of Ophthalmology, Izmir Military Hospital, Izmir - Turkey.
Fahrettin
F
Akay
Department of Ophthalmology, Gata Medical School, Ankara - Turkey.
Fatih Cakir
FC
Gundogan
Department of Ophthalmology, Siirt Military Hospital, Siirt - Turkey.
Umit
U
Yolcu
Department of Ophthalmology, Izmir Military Hospital, Izmir - Turkey.
Sami
S
Toyran
Department of Ophthalmology, Etimesgut Military Hospital, Ankara - Turkey.
Salih
S
Uzun
D000328:Adult; D062186:Arterial Pressure; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002829:Choroid / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult