Optical coherence tomography measurements in patients with systemic hypertension

To evaluate the effect of systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) on retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) parameters and investigate whether a correlation exists between ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) and OCT measurements.Material-methods: 115 SAH patients (225 eyes) and 123 healthy control cases (234 eyes) were included. ABPM was performed on 89 of 115 SAH patients. All patients underwent detailed ophthalmologic examination including imaging with OCT. SAH patients were divided into two groups (dippers, non-dippers) according to their nocturnal blood pressure (BP) reduction, and OCT measurements were compared.

Average and superior retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) quadrants were significantly thin in hypertensive cases (p:0.002, p < 0.001, respectively). Cup area, cup/disk (c/d) area, and c/d horizontal ratios were wider; the rim area was smaller in hypertensive cases (respectively: p:0.024, p:0.017, p:0.003, p < 0.001). Total macular volume (TMV), the thicknesses in 1-3 and 1-6 mm of the macula were less in hypertensives (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference between dippers and non-dippers in RNFL thickness, macula and optic nerve head (ONH) parameters.

There were statistically significant differences between healthy cases and patients with SAH in terms of RNFL, macula thicknesses and ONH parameters.