Evaluation of Choroidal Thickness in Ankylosing Spondylitis Using Optical Coherence Tomography

Purpose: To investigate posterior segment (PS) findings in the eye in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).Eighty-four patients with AS and 63 healthy controls were enrolled. PS evaluations were performed using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Foveal thickness, peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, macular volume, ganglion cell complex, and choroidal thickness (CT) values were compared between the groups.Mean CT was higher in patients with AS (326.5 ± 71.5 µm) than in the healthy controls (286.2 ± 59.5 µm) (p = 0.001). There was no significant difference between patients with AS and the healthy control group in terms of other OCT parameters. There was also no significant correlation between CT, AS activity index, and disease duration.This is the first study to evaluate effects of AS on CT. CT was high in patients with AS compared to healthy controls.