Evaluation of choroidal thickness and choroidal vascular index in patients using combined oral contraceptive pills.

Purpose: To evaluate the choroidal thickness and choroidal vascular index (CVI) in healthy women using the combined oral contraceptive pill (COCp).

Methods: This prospective study included 30 women using COCp (3 mg drospirenone/0.03 mg ethinylestradiol) for contraception for at least 1 year and 30 healthy women who did not use COCp. Intraocular pressure (IOP), axial length (AL) and body mass index (BMI) values of all participants were recorded. Subfoveal choroidal thickness (SCT) and choroidal thickness at 1500 micron distance in nasal and temporal regions (NCT, TCT) were measured through optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. Luminal, stromal and total choroidal area values were evaluated by binarization method. The ratio of the luminal choroidal area to the total choroidal area was determined as the CVI value.

Results: There was no statistically significant difference in IOP and AL values between the two groups at no significant difference in age and BMI index (p > 0.05, for all). SCT, NCT and TCT values were no significant difference in the two groups (p > 0.05, for all). Luminal and stromal choroidal area values were found to be lower in the group using COCp (p = 0.01, p = 0.02 respectively). The CVI value was 62.1 ± 3.6% in the COCp group and 65.6 ± 4.3% in the control group. There was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of CVI value (p = 0.002).

Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate CVI in women using COCp, and CVI was found to be lower in individuals using COCp. Therefore, CVI can be used in the follow-up of possible ocular pathologies that may develop in individuals using COCp.