The clinical implications of choroidal thickness combined with tear VEGFA in coronary artery disease

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of choroidal thickness and tear vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) as biomarkers of coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS: This study was a retrospective observational case–control trial. A total of 637 patients who underwent coronary angiography to assess their coronary artery status were included. The patients were divided into two groups: 200 people in the No CAD group and 437 people in the CAD group. We evaluated the choroidal thickness of the right foveal membrane in all patients through optical coherence tomography angiography examination. We also collected tear samples from patients to measure VEGFA. The ROC curve and its area under the curve (AUC) were used for analysis. RESULTS: The central foveal choroid in the No CAD group was significantly thicker than that in the CAD group (289.09 μm ± 38.41; 229.03 μm ± 33.44, P < 0.01). The tear VEGFA in the CAD group was higher than that in the No CAD group (706.15 ng/mL ± 147.42; 419.66 ng/mL ± 105.85, P < 0.01). Spearman analysis showed that the correlation between choroidal thickness and Gensini score was –0.7387 (P < 0.01). The correlation between tear VEGFA level and Gensini score was 0.8636 (P < 0.01). Taking choroidal thickness and tear VEGFA as independent variables, we obtained AUC = 0.9647 (95% CI 0.9506–0.9789, P < 0.01) through binary logic regression and ROC curve analysis. CONCLUSION: The combination of choroidal thickness and tear VEGFA in patients can serve as a clinical marker of CAD and its severity.