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Thinning of the inner and outer retinal layers, including the ganglion cell layer and photoreceptor layers, in obstructive sleep apnea and hypopnea syndrome unrelated to the disease severity

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to analyze the segmented layers of the macula in patients with obstructive sleep apnea and hypopnea syndrome (OSAS) using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).

Material and Methods

This single-center, cross-sectional study included 31 OSAS patients and 31 age- and gender-matched control subjects. SD-OCT and overnight polysomnography were performed on all participants. The OSAS patients were categorized according to disease severity (mild, moderate, severe). The groups were compared in respect of each segmented macular layer through the use of segmentation software on SD-OCT. Total retinal thickness (RT), peripapillary retina nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness, central corneal thickness (CCT) and intraocular pressure (IOP) values were also compared between the groups.

Results

Mean CCT (p:0.015) and nasal pRNFL values (p:0.042) were lower and mean IOP was higher (p:0.018) in OSAS patients than in the control group. The statistical analysis revealed significantly thinner total RT, inner retinal layers (IRL), outer retinal layers (ORL), photoreceptor layers (PRL) and ganglion cell layer (GCL) thicknesses in the OSAS groups compared to healthy subjects. No significant differences were found between the three OSAS subgroups in all segmented macular layers and pRNFL measurements.

Conclusion

The results of this study showed relatively thinner nasal pRNFL, total RT, IRL, ORL, PRL and GCL layers in OSAS patients compared to healthy subjects. Moreover, this thinning of the segmented layers was unrelated to disease severity.

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Data availability

The data are available upon request.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Kayseri City Hospital, Mevlana mh. Tamer cd. 5/14, Talas, Kayseri, Turkey

    Soner Guven & Deniz Kilic

  2. Department of Neurology, Kayseri City Hospital, Kayseri, Turkey

    Omer Faruk Bolatturk

Authors
  1. Soner Guven
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  2. Deniz Kilic
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Contributions

SG, DK and OFB designed the study, collected the data, drafted the manuscript and created the tables.

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Correspondence to Soner Guven.

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The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

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Ethics approval for this study was obtained from Kayseri Erciyes University, Clinical Investigations Ethics Committee, 2020/132.

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Guven, S., Kilic, D. & Bolatturk, O.F. Thinning of the inner and outer retinal layers, including the ganglion cell layer and photoreceptor layers, in obstructive sleep apnea and hypopnea syndrome unrelated to the disease severity. Int Ophthalmol 41, 3559–3569 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-021-01937-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-021-01937-4

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