SMOKING: A RISK FACTOR AFFECTING CHOROIDAL THICKNE

Background: The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing over 8 million people a year around the world. As a highly modifiable environmental factor, smoking was reported to be associated with kinds of ocular disorders, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, ischemic optic neuropathy,and retinal vein occlusion.Methodology: This cross sectional study was performed in department of ophthalmology of government medical college, kota after taking informed consent from all the participants.The study was approved by the institutional review board. 25 healthy smokers (study group) and 25 non-smokers (control group) were enrolled. All patients were seen and examined in OPD of Ophthalmology Department. Enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI) using SD-OCT was performed. Results: A history of smoking was significantly associated with a thinner choroid across all patients via logistic regression (P=0.003).Mean macular choroidal thickness was thinner for smokers (145±62 m) than for nonsmokers (185±60 m) among all diagnosis categories (P=0.004). Study also revealed an association between increased pack-years of smoking and a thin choroid across all patients (P<0.001). Conclusion: In conclusion, significant effect of cigarette smoking on retinal or choroidal thickness change was detected. Choroidal thickness was found reduced in smokers. For smoking-related chorioretinal diseases, the conclusions of this research provides ideas for follow-up studies. In addition, future research on this interesting and meaningful point would help in the prevention and treatment of smoking-associated disorder