Assessment of choroidal structures in morbidly obese women

To evaluate the choroidal vascularity index (CVI), subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), central macular thickness (CMT), retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), and ganglion cell complex (GCC) in morbidly obese women.

A prospective, cross-sectional, comparative study was carried out with 42 eyes of 42 morbidly obese women and 54 eyes of 54 normal-weight women. Images taken with the enhanced depth imaging mode in spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) were transferred to the Image J program and CVIs and SFCTs were measured. We also measured and compared CMTs with the retinal map mode of SD-OCT as well as the mean, superior, and inferior RNFLs and the mean, superior, and inferior GCCs with the nerve fiber analyzer mode.

The average age of the morbidly obese group was 31.79 ± 5.4 years and of the normal-weight group, 31.63 ± 6.1. The CVI and SFCT values were significantly lower in the morbidly obese group (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). There was a strong negative correlation between BMI and CVI and SFCT (r = −0.674, p < 0.001 and r = −0.787, p < 0.001, respectively). There was no significant difference in intraocular pressure, CMT, RNLF, and GCC between the two groups.

Morbidly obese women have lower CVI and thinner SFCT than normal-weight women.