Comparison of choroidal thickness in healthy pregnant and preeclamptic women in a tertiary eye care center in Central India: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Aim: To compare the Subfoveal Choroidal Thickness (SFCT) measured by Enhanced Depth Imaging (EDI) technique of Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT) in healthy pregnant and preeclamptic women. Methods: Our study was cross-sectional hospital-based study in which healthy pregnant women and women having preeclampsia were selected from Obstetrics and Gynecology department and enrolled in it. The guidelines of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists were used to diagnose the cases of preeclampsia. The study included 100 women (200 eyes) which were grouped into 50 healthy pregnant women (group 1), i.e., n = 100 eyes and 50 preeclamptic women (group 2), i.e., n = 100 eyes. SFCT was measured using the EDI technique of SD-OCT and data were entered in a Microsoft Excel sheet. Statistical analysis was done using Epi Info. Software version 7.2.1.0 (Atlanta, Georgia, US) and the results of both the groups were compared. Results: The mean SFCT in both the eyes of the healthy pregnant group and the preeclamptic group was 318.12 ± 37.12 µm and 209.04 ± 26.73 µm, respectively, with a P-value 0.001 showing a statistically significant difference between both the groups. Conclusion: The SFCT is significantly decreased in preeclamptic pregnant women than in healthy pregnant women.