Evaluation of Choroidal Thickness and Choroidal Vascularity Index in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the choroidal vascularity index and choroidal thickness in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

METHOD: This study is a case control study. Our study consists of a total of two groups, with 32 individuals diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 32 healthy volunteers. The thickness of the subfoveal choroid was measured from the 500 micron (µm), 1000 µm, 1500 µm nasal aspect of the fovea, and 500µm, 1000µm, 1500 µm temporal and subfoveal thickness of the fovea. ImageJ version 1.53i (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA) from open access was used for choroidal vascular index calculation.

RESULTS: The mean age ( p = 0.064) and gender distribution ( p = 0.522) were not statistically different between these two groups. There was no difference between the groups in terms of visual acuity ( p = 0.060), intraocular pressures ( p =0.056), refractive errors ( p = 0.418), and axial lengths ( p = 0.280). Temporal 500 µm CT ( p = 0.038), temporal 1000 µm CT ( p = 0.010), and temporal 1500 µm CT ( p = 0.005) differed significantly between the groups. The luminal area was significantly different between the RA group (842.71 ± 192.77) and the control group (957.78 ± 230.83) ( p = 0.034). The choroidal vascularity index showed a significant difference between the RA group (64.99 ± 4.71) and the control group (67.34 ± 3.40) ( p = 0.026). A significant difference was observed between the seronegative RA and the control group with temporal 1500 µm CT ( p = 0.030), temporal 1000 µm CT ( p = 0.023), and luminal area ( p = 0.034).

CONCLUSION: We demonstrated thinning in CT and decreased CVI for the first time in RA patients by comparing it with the control group.