Macular retinal and choroidal thickness profile in patients with thyroid‐associated orbitopathy compared to healthy individuals: A cross‐sectional study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: To evaluate the macular thickness profile and central subfoveal choroidal thickness in patients with thyroid‐associated orbitopathy (TAO) compared to healthy subjects. METHODS: We used the convenience sampling method and divided all participants into the patients and control groups. Based on the clinical activity score (CAS) in the first examination, the patient group was divided to two subgroups: the patients with CAS < 3 and the patients with CAS ≥ 3. Complete ophthalmologic examinations and optical coherence tomography imaging were performed for all participants. RESULTS: The mean ± SD of central choroidal thickness was 277 ± 76.58 microns for the control and 326.07 ± 56.574 micron for the patient group which was statistically significant (p = 0.003). We also found that the parafoveal inner thickness is significantly lower in patients compared to healthy subjects (p = 0.02). A comparison of neuro‐structural data between the two subgroups of patients showed a significant difference in central choroidal thickness (p = 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study showed that central choroidal thickness in patients with CAS ≥ 3 compared to those with CAS < 3 and also in the patient group compared to healthy individuals have a significantly increasing trend.