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When rheumatoid arthritis is mentioned, should only dryness come to mind?

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Abstract

Objective

To evaluate corneal parameters of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients by corneal topography.

Methods

One hundred two RA patients and 60 control subjects were enrolled. Corneal topography measurements and ophthalmologic findings were examined from all participants’ files.

Results

Corneal thickness measurements were significantly lower in the RA group (p = 0.025). All values of corneal curvatures (K1, K2, Kmean) in 3 mm, 5 mm, and 7 mm zones were found statistically significantly higher in the RA group compared with the control group. Forty-five RA patients had a dry eye. Disease duration was correlated with dry eye in the RA group. There was a significant correlation between the duration of disease in RA patients and mean corneal curvatures (p 0.012/0.010/0.007, 3/5/7 mm respectively) and central corneal thickness (p 0.025). There is no statistical difference between other topographic measurements.

Conclusions

The results suggest that RA patients have thinner and steeper corneas compared with control subjects. These parameters change in negative correlation as the duration of the disease increases.

Key Points

• Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease with systemic involvement.

• In rheumatoid arthritis, systemic involvement is affected in the eyes.

• When it comes to eye involvement, it comes to mind that it makes the eyes more dryness.

• In addition to dryness in the eyes, rheumatoid arthritis makes morphological changes in the cornea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ophthalmology Department, Faculte of Medicine, Aksaray Education and Research Hospital, Aksaray University, Aksaray, Turkey

    Ugur Gurlevik, Karakoyun Ahmet & Erdogan Yasar

  2. Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Department, Faculte of Medicine, Aksaray Education and Research Hospital, Aksaray University, Aksaray, Turkey

    Ugur Gurlevik, Karakoyun Ahmet & Erdogan Yasar

Authors
  1. Ugur Gurlevik
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  2. Karakoyun Ahmet
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  3. Erdogan Yasar
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Correspondence to Ugur Gurlevik.

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Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. Institution review board/Ethics Committee has approved the study.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. The article has not been presented in any conference or meeting.

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All persons named in the “Acknowledgments” section have provided me with written permission to be named. Our study has not been published anywhere before and the authors declare it.

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Gurlevik, U., Karakoyun, A. & Yasar, E. When rheumatoid arthritis is mentioned, should only dryness come to mind?. Clin Rheumatol 39, 3317–3321 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-020-05124-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-020-05124-1

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