Aim of the study was to evaluate the choroidal thickness (CT) in patients with RA and detect the relation with disease activity and joint damage in patients with rheumatoid arthritisBACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic inflammatory disease associated with various extra-articular organ manifestations including ocular manifestationsMATERIALS AND METHODS: We included 59 eyes of 59 patients with RA and 59 eyes of 59 controls without RA in the study. Subfoveal and perifoveal CT were measured using enhanced depth imaging optic coherence tomography. Disease activity score 28 (DAS 28) and Larsen score were calculated for each patient with RA and compared with measurements of CT.
CT was statistically thinner in patients with RA than controls, at subfoveal CT (p = 0.008), at 500 μm temporal to the fovea (p = 0.004), at 1000 μm temporal to the fovea (p = 0.010), at 1500 μm temporal to the fovea (p = 0.005), at 500 μm nasal to the fovea (p = 0.035). Additionally there was no correlation measurements of CT with disease activity and joint damage.
Subfoveal and perifoveal CT was significantly thinner in patients with RA than in healthy controls but there was no correlation detected between CT measurements and DAS 28 or Larsen scores (Tab. 5, Ref. 33).