Comparison of Optic Disc Topography in the Cases With Graves Disease and Healthy Controls

Purpose: To compare the optic nerve head topographic parameters of the cases with Graves disease (GD), and the age and sex-matched control group, by using Heidelberg retinal tomography III. Materials and Methods: We evaluated both eyes of 65 patients with GD and 54 age and sex-matched controls. For statistical analysis, Mann-Whitney U test and independent sample t test were used. Statistical significance was set as P < 0.05. Results: The study group consisted of 22 male (33.8%) and 43 female (66.2%) GD cases with a mean age of 40.3 +/- 11.9 years and the control group consisted of 26 male (48.1%) and 28 female (51.9%) healthy controls with a mean age of 36.9 +/- 7.6 years. The differences between the age and sexes of the groups were not statistically significant (P = 0.07 and P = 0.11, respectively). The mean intraocular pressure of the study group was 14.6 +/- 2.9 mm Hg (range, 8 to 20 mm Hg), whereas in the control group, it was 13.4 +/- 2.1 mm Hg (range, 10 to 19 mm Hg). The difference between the intraocular pressures was statistically significant (P = 0.01). The mean retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness (0.31 +/- 0.08 mm) and the mean RNFL cross-sectional area (1.52 +/- 0.43 mm(2)) of the control group were greater than the mean RNFL thickness (0.25 +/- 0.06 mm) and the mean RNFL cross-sectional area (1.30 +/- 0.32 mm(2)) of the study group (P = 0.02, P = 0.03 respectively). Conclusions: This result suggests that patients with GD may have thinner RNFL than healthy controls.