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Abstract
Purpose: This retrospective study aimed to compare the peripapillary choroidal vascularity index (CVI) between young smokers who smoked less than 5 packs/year and non-smokers.
Methods: The study included 52 smokers and 67 non-smokers, and comprehensive eye examinations were performed on all participants. Axial lengths (AL) were measured, and peripapillary enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT) images were obtained and evaluated using the Open Source ImageJ software. The CVI, total choroidal area (TCA), luminal area (LA), stromal area (SA), and retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) quadrants were compared between the two groups.
Results: The mean age of the smokers was 23.76 ± 1.84 years, and for non-smokers, it was 23.98 ± 2.18 years. The mean peripapillary CVI for smokers was 0.65 ± 0.08, and for non-smokers, it was 0.67 ± 0.03. No statistically significant difference in CVI was observed between the two groups. However, statistically significant differences were found in the temporal inferior (TI), temporal superior (TS), nasal inferior (NI), and nasal superior (NS) quadrants of the RNFL between the two groups (p < 0.05). There was no correlation between the number of packs/year and CVI values in the smoking group (r = 0.031, p = 0.826).
Conclusion: The study revealed no significant difference in CVI among young smokers who smoked less than 5 packs/year compared to non-smokers. However, there was a statistically significant decrease in the TI, TS, NI, and NS quadrants of the RNFL in early-age smokers.
Author contributions
T.S.,H.B., M.T.E. and E.A. conceived and planned the design of the work. T. S. and E.A. orders completed the data collection process. H. B. and M.T.E. reviewed the data and edited the statistical analysis. T.S. and M.T.E. took the lead in writing the manuscript. All authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis, and manuscript.
Ethical approval
All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was approved by the institutional review board of the university.
Patient consent
Consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data available statement
Data supporting this study are included within the article and/or supporting materials.