Choroidal changes in patients with diabetic retinopathy

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the characteristic choroidal changes in patients with diabetic retinopathy and to identify factors affecting choroidal thickness (CTh), choroidal vascular index (CVI), and choriocapillaris flow in these patients. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed 79 eyes from 53 patients with diabetes from August 2021 to February 2022. We collected laboratory data, including HbA1c, serum creatinine, BUN, triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL). The measurements of the OCT images, including foveal avascular zone (FAZ), retinal vascular density, choroidal flow, retinal thickness, CTh and CVI, were analyzed. The possible determining factors affecting CTh, CVI, and choriocapillaris flow were analyzed using nonparametric multivariate analysis.We found that LDL (P<.001) was positively correlated with CTh, while CVI (P=.007) had a negative correlation with CTh in diabetic patients. Our study also identified a negative correlation between choriocapillaris flow and DVD (P=.018) in low-grade DR patients, which was not identified in patients with more advanced DR.