Peripapillary and subfoveal choroidal vascular index in patients with tension-type headache and migraine.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the choroidal vascular characteristics of patients followed up with different headache diagnoses.

Design: Prospective comparative study.

Methods: This study included 21 patients with migraine with visual aura (MwA), 20 with migraine without aura, 29 patients experiencing episodic tension-type headache, and 30 healthy participants. The participants was performed refraction values, axial length, and intraocular pressure were examined. Choroidal thickness was determined in all participants with HD-line optical coherence tomography (OCT) in the subfoveal, nasal, and temporal quadrants 500 µm from the fovea. Using special image processing software, luminal area (LA), stromal area, total choroidal area, and choroidal vascular index (CVI) values were calculated in both macular and peripapillary regions. OCT was also used to perform peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness and optic disc head measurements.

Results: Spherical refraction, axial length, and intraocular pressure values did not significantly differ among the four groups with similar gender and age distributions ( P > 0.05). The LA values in both macular and peripapillary regions were found to be statistically significantly lower in the MwA group ( P = 0.007 and P = 0.005, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference among the groups in terms of the remaining choroidal area parameters or CVI values ( P > 0.05). The groups also did not show any significant difference in the pRNFL or optic disc head measurements performed in different quadrants ( P > 0.05).

Conclusion: While LA, one of the choroidal vascular parameters, was found to be lower in the MwA group in both the macular and peripapillary regions, there were no statistically significant differences between the groups in terms of the peripapillary or macular CVI values.