The alterations of choroidal thickness and intraocular pressure values with medical treatment in newly diagnosed primary hypertension patients

Aim: To investigate the alterations of choroidal thickness (CT) and intraocular pressure (IOP) values with medical treatment in newly diagnosed primary hypertension patients. Materials and Metods: The study was performed at Karadeniz Technical University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology between August 2014 and September 2015. 92 eyes of 46 newly diagnosed primary hypertension cases and 66 eyes of 33 healthy volunteers were prospectively evaluated. The patients were randomly divided into two groups as using peryndopryl arginine(n=21) and amlodipine besylate (n=25) as antihypertensive agents. Next control examinations were performed in all cases at 3th and 6th month after the beginning of treatment. The detailed ophthalmological examination was performed in all cases including mean arterial pressure measurements with sphygmomanometer; intraocular pressure measurements with non-contact tonometer and choroidal thickness analysis with optic coherence tomography (OCT) at all visits. The obtained data were analyzed statistically. Results: 21 primary hypertension patients using perindopril arginine (Group I) with a mean age of 49.95 ± 7.87 years,25 primary hypertension patients using amlodipine besylate (Group II) with 47.96 ± 10.77 years and 33 healthy volunteers with 46.82 ± 7.59 years were included in our study. There was no statistically significant difference in gender between the subjects included in the study (p = 0.917). In control groupthere was no statistically significant difference between OAB values of first examination and the follow-up examinations (p = 0.056) but in Group I and Group II, these values decreased significantly (p = 0.000, p = 0.009). When three consecutive examinations were compared in terms of changes in CT values, only a significant increase was observed in CT values in Group I (p = 0.004), but no significant difference was found in all other CT measures(p=0,943, p=0,484). When IOP measurements were evaluated for each visit in the groups, there was no statistically significant change in IOP values for Group I, Group II and control group (p = 0.421, p = 0.306, p = 0.879). In correlation analysis; There was no significant relationship between the OAB values obtained in each of the three examinations in each of the three groups and the measurements of CT values (r = -0.062, p = 0.345). When we evaluated all three groups, there was no significant relationship between IOP values obtained at all sessions and CT measures (r = 0.026, p = 0.692). Conclusion: Reduction of MAP through the use perindopril arginine in the treatment of primary hypertension leads to a significant increase in at choroidal thickness. This can be attributed to the effective vasodilation of the vasculature and to the idiosyncratic nature of the drug. Key Words: Primary Hypertension, Choroidal Thickness, Intraocular Pressure, Optic Coherence Tomography