Smoking Effect on Peripapillary and Macular Microvascular Structure in Inactive Graves’ Ophthalmopathy
Abstract ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the smoking effect on peripapillary and macular microvascular structure in patients with inactive Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO) and to compare these structures with those of healthy control subjects.MethodsA total of 34 healty participants (control group), 22 inactive GO patients with smoking (smoker group) and 19 inactive GO patients with nonsmoking (non-smoker group) were recruited in this prospective study. After detailed ophthalmological examination, vessel densities (VD) of the superficial capillary plexus (SCP), deep capillary plexus (DCP), retinal peripapillary capillary (RPC) and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area, acircularity index (AI) of the FAZ were analyzed with optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) for each eye.ResultsVessel density in the total peripapillary; superior and inferior sectors of RPC were significantly lower in inactive GO patients with smoking (p<0.05 for all sectors) compared to control group. Besides, the FAZ AI was significantly higher in smoker and non-smoker inactive GO groups compared to healthy subjects (p=0.0001, p=0.0001, respectively). No significant difference was found in the FAZ area, and all SCP, DCP macular measurements between groups (p>0.05 for all).ConclusionOCTA findings of lower peripapillary VD in the smoker group show smoking effect on the optic disc head microvasculature in inactive GO patients. These results could reflect early subclinical optic disc vasculature damage in smoker inactive GO subjects.