Choroidal Vascularity Index as a Potential Inflammatory Biomarker for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

To evaluate choroidal vascularity index (CVI) and to investigate the association of CVI with neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as an indicator of inflammation in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).This prospective study included newly diagnosed OCD patients and healthy controls. All patients underwent EDI-OCT imaging to assess the subfoveal choroidal thickness (sCT) and peripapillary CT (pCT). CVI was defined as the ratio of luminal area to stromal area after binarization on EDI-OCT images.A total of 39 patients with OCD and 25 controls were included. The sCT, pCT, and CVI values were significantly higher in the OCD vs. control group (p˂0.05 for all). The NLR values were significantly higher in the OCD vs. control group (p = .007). A significant positive correlation was noted between CVI and NLR (p = .039).Our findings suggest that systemic inflammation may play a role in the pathogenesis of OCD.