Evaluation of the Choroid, Fovea, and Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on choroid, retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), and foveal thickness using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Methods: Fifty patients with RA and forty-one healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. The subfoveal, perifoveal choroidal, RNFL, and foveal thicknesses were measured by spectral domain OCT.

Results: The mean subfoveal, nasal, and temporal choroidal thicknesses in RA individuals were significantly higher than those in the control group (p ˂ 0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the RA and healthy group regarding RNFL and foveal thickness (p ˃ 0.05). A significant correlation was found between rheumatoid factor (RF) and the subfoveal temporal choroidal thickness.

Conclusion: Choroidal thickness in RA patients was higher than that in healthy participants. Choroidal thickening showed a positive correlation with RF, which may be an indicator for systemic vasculitis.

Keywords:

• Choroidal thickness
• enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography
• rheumatoid arthritis
• vasculitis

This article refers to:

Reason of Choroidal Thickening in Rheumatoid Arthritis May be Temperature Rise of the Body

Regarding Comments by Kaya et al. on “Evaluation of the Choroid, Fovea, and Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis”

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.