Macular choroidal thickness in highly myopic women during pregnancy and postpartum: a longitudinal study

BACKGROUND: High myopia, a cause of serious visual impairment, is a significant global public health concern. We investigate longitudinal changes in macular choroidal thickness (CT) during pregnancy and 6-months postpartum in women with high myopia (HM). METHODS: A prospective longitudinal study was conducted in HM-pregnant women during the course of pregnancy (n = 42 eyes, 42 patients) and 6 months postpartum (n = 40 eyes, 40 patients, two cases lost).Macular CT was measured via enhanced-depth imaging (EDI)-optical coherence tomography (OCT) (EDI-OCT). Intraocular pressure (IOP), axial length (AL), refractive error, mean arterial pressure (MAP), mean ocular perfusion pressure (MOPP), and body mass index (BMI) were also measured. RESULTS: Macular CTs of HM pregnant women (214.3 ± 52.3 μm) had increased significantly during the third trimester of pregnancy compared with postpartum women (192.7 ± 51.9 μm, p = 0.014). No significant differences in AL, refractive error, or MAP were found between pregnant and postpartum groups (p > 0.05 for all parameters).During pregnancy, macular CT was negatively correlated with AL (first trimester: p = 0.010; second trimester: p = 0.013; and third trimester: p = 0.008) and positively correlated with refractive error (first trimester: p = 0.038; second trimester: p = 0.024; and third trimester: p = 0.010). No correlations between macular CT and age, IOP, MOPP, MAP, or BMI were found. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed the presence of a significantly thicker choroid during the third trimester of pregnancy compared with 6-mo postpartum in HM women. Macular CT positively correlated with refractive error and negatively correlated with AL during pregnancy, but did not correlate with gestational age, MOPP, IOP, MAP, or BMI.