Peripapillary choroidal thickness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Objective: To evaluate the peripapillary choroidal thickness of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) via enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT).Materials and methods: A total of 80 patients with COPD (80 eyes) and 50 control subjects (50 eyes) were enrolled. Choroidal scans and the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness were obtained for all eyes using OCT.Results: The average peripapillary choroidal thickness measurements of the COPD group (147.5853.53m) were lower than the control group (160.84 +/- 44.73m) (p=0.068). Inferior segment thicknesses were significantly thinner than the other segments (p<0.05). Subfoveal choroidal thickness and RNFL thickness measurements of the COPD group were also lower than those of the control group (p=0.111).Conclusion: Hypoxia in COPD seems to affect the choroidal thickness. Thinning of the choroid may be attributed to increased vascular resistance and reduced blood flow in patients with COPD. The possible effects of the disease to the eye may be clarified through the role of the choroidal vasculature in the blood supply of the anterior optic nerve head.