Posterior segment assessment in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

The present study aimed to evaluate the lamina cribrosa thickness (LCT), lamina cribrosa depth (LCD), subfoveal and parafoveal choroidal thicknesses, peripapillary choroidal thickness (PCT), and retina nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).

This single-center, case-control study included 45 OSAS patients and 43 age-and sex-matched healthy controls. Only the right eyes of the patients and controls were included. Each participant underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic assessment including slit lamp examination (biomicroscopy), stereoscopic fundus examination, and intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement. The SD-OCT measurements were also performed in both patients and controls.

The mean ages of the patients (females, 55.6%) and controls (females, 51.2%) were 50.09 ± 9.7 years and 50.30 ± 4.2 years, respectively. The groups were similar in terms of age and gender. Evaluation of the study parameters revealed that there were no significant differences between the OSAS patients and controls regarding IOP, RNFL thickness, subfoveal and parafoveal choroidal thicknesses, and PCT. A significant difference was found between the OSAS patients and controls regarding LCT but not regarding LCD. The mean LCT values were 213.38 ± 30.7 μm and 300.49 ± 42.6 μm for the OSAS patients and controls, respectively (p ˂ 0.001).

The results of the present study indicated that the lamina cribrosa was significantly thinner in the OSAS patients than in the controls. In our opinion, this finding should be supported by large-scale studies and the reason underlying the thinning of the lamina cribrosa in OSAS patients should be investigated physiopathologically.