ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives: The normal Central corneal thickness (CCT) ranges about 510-520 microns. It is normally seen in clinical practice that corneas which are thicker are linked with greater intraocular pressures (IOPs). The purpose of the study was to determine the central corneal thickness and establish its relationship with age and serum electrolytes in hypertensive and non-hypertensive patients. Methodology: A total of 108 subjects were included in our cross-sectional comparative study (54 hypertensive and 54 non-hypertensive). Written informed consent was taken. We measured blood pressure with mercuric sphygmomanometer. Ultrasound pachymeter was used to measure central corneal thickness while we drew 5 ml of blood for estimation of the serum electrolytes. Data was entered and evaluated using IBM SPSS 17. Quantitative variables were presented as Mean ± SD. Pearson correlation was used to find correlation of normally distributed variables p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: Central corneal thickness was statistically same in hypertensive and non-hypertensive subjects. Serum Na+ was significantly increased in hypertensive subjects while serum K+ and Cl- were significantly decreased in hypertensive subjects. No significant correlation was seen in hypertensive while weak negative correlation was observed between CCT and age in non-hypertensive patients. Weak positive correlation was observed between CCT and Na+ both in hypertensive and non-hypertensive. Significant correlation was observed in CCT and K+ in hypertensive while negative correlation was seen in non-hypertensive. Weak correlation was observed in CCT and Cl- both in hypertensive and non-hypertensive. Conclusion: Mean CCT was significantly lower in hypertension. CCT and age showed weak and positive correlation in hypertensive while weak and negative correlation in non-hypertensive. Serum electrolytes and CCT showed no significant correlation.