Purpose: To measure ocular vascular parameters in rheumatoid arthritis patients and compare with those of controls and to evaluate the association of rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody with the choroidal thickness.
Methods: Superficial foveal vessel density, superficial and deep foveal avascular zone area, and subfoveal choroidal thickness were measured using the swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess the correlation of subfoveal choroidal thickness with serological markers in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Results: Choroidal thickness in patients was significantly thinner than that in healthy controls (278.87 ± 59.54 μm vs. 323.94 ± 98.02 μm, p = 0.03). Despite the weak positive correlations between rheumatoid factor/anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide and choroidal thickness, these relationships were not statistically significant (p > 0.05).
Conclusions: In patients with rheumatoid arthritis, subfoveal choroid was thinner than controls. There were similar correlations between choroidal thickness and rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody.
Keywords: Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody; Choroidal thickness; Optical coherence tomography angiography; Rheumatoid arthritis; Rheumatoid factor.