Evaluation of effect of hypertension on choroidal thickness using optical coherence tomography

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate effect of Hypertension on choroidal thickness using spectral-domain optical
coherence tomography (SD-OCT).
Methods: 72 eyes with hypertensive retinopathy from 36 patients in the age group of 40-65 years with
hypertension (systolic blood pressure [SBP] ≥140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure [DBP] ≥90 mm Hg)
and 72 eyes of 36 age matched controls were included in hypertensive and control groups, respectively.
SD-OCT was performed on the patients in both the groups and sub-foveal choroidal thickness was
measured. SD-OCT morphologic findings were evaluated and were compared between hypertensive
subjects and the controls. Associations between clinical findings, OCT image features, and KeithWagener-Barker (KWB) hypertensive retinopathy grades were examined.
Results: Mean age was 52.9 ± 1.9 years in hypertensive subjects and 53.5 ± 2.8 years in the control group
(p = 0.742). All choroidal thickness measurements (mean choroidal thickness, sub-foveal choroidal
thickness, all nasal and all temporal choroidal thicknesses) were significantly lower in hypertensive
subjects (p<0.003 for sub-foveal, p = 0.002 for Nasal; and p = 0.01 for temporal). The correlations
between choroidal thickness measurements and blood pressure (SBP, DBP, MAP) were insignificant
(p>0.05). There was statistically significant correlation between SBP and retinopathy grading (r = 0.214 p
= 0.034) but statistically insignificant correlation between DBP (r = 0.215, P = 0.129) and MAP (r =
0.234, P = 0.081).
Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrated that there is detrimental effect on choroidal thickness
in patients with systemic arterial hypertension as compared to age matched healthy subjects.