Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Increases in Patients With Dry Eye.

PURPOSE: To assess the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as an indicator of inflammation in patients with non-Sjögren dry eye disease. METHODS: Serum NLR and C-reactive protein values were determined in 33 patients with dry eye and in 32 controls. The NLR was calculated by dividing the neutrophil count by the lymphocyte count. RESULTS: Characteristics of the dry eye and control groups were similar. The mean NLR value was 2.8 ± 1.4 (range: 1.1-6.1) in the dry eye group and 1.6 ± 0.7 (range: 0.8-2.8) in the control group (P = 0.002, t test). The mean C-reactive protein value was 0.6 ± 0.7 mg/dL (range: 0-2.3 mg/dL) in the dry eye group and 0.5 ± 0.6 mg/dL (range: 0-1.9 mg/dL) in the control group (P = 0.307, t test). CONCLUSIONS: The NLR values were found to be higher in patients with non-Sjögren dry eye than in controls. This result suggests that non-Sjögren dry eye disease may be associated with systemic inflammation or the NLR values may increase in local inflammatory ocular diseases.

Associations between choroidal thickness, axial length and spherical equivalent in a paediatric population.

BACKGROUND: The aim was to compare the choroidal thickness (ChT) of myopic children's eyes with that of emmetropes to determine whether there are associations between ChT, axial length and spherical equivalent (SE) in a paediatric population. METHODS: A total of 117 eyes of 117 children including 53 myopic eyes (myopic group) and 64 emmetropic eyes (emmetropic group) were enrolled in this cross-sectional comparative study. ChT was analysed by using the HD 5 Line Raster scan protocol of spectral domain enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography. Subfoveal ChT was measured manually as the distance between the retinal pigment epithelium and the chorioscleral border and three additional measurements were carried out every 750 µm temporal (T1, T2 and T3) and nasal (N1, N2 and N3) to the fovea. RESULTS: The mean age was 11.7 ± 2.7 years (range five to 17 years) in the myopic group and 10.9 ± 3.4 years (range 5 to 17 years) in the emmetropic group. There were no significant differences between the groups concerning age and sex (both p > 0.05). The myopic eyes had significantly thinner subfoveal, T1, T2, T3, N1, N2, N3 and average choroid than the emmetropic eyes (all p < 0.05). In addition, correlation analyses among all the study subjects showed that all subfoveal, T1, T2, T3, N1, N2, N3 and average ChT had negative correlations with axial length and positive correlations with the SE. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that the myopic children's eyes had significantly thinner subfoveal choroid than the emmetropic control eyes. Further, ChT was negatively correlated with axial length and positively correlated with SE in the population that included myopic and emmetropic children.

Influence of hyperopia and amblyopia on choroidal thickness in children.

PURPOSE: To compare subfoveal choroidal thicknesses (ChTs) of anisometropic hyperopic amblyopic, hyperopic nonamblyopic, and emmetropic control eyes and to investigate the associations between ChT and ambylopia, spherical equivalent (SE), and axial length in the pediatric population. METHODS: Forty-six hyperopic nonamblyopic (hyperopic group), 33 anisometropic hyperopic amblyopic (amblyopic group), and 42 emmetropic (emmetropic group) eyes were enrolled in this cross-sectional comparative study. Enhanced depth imaging spectral-domain optical coherence tomography was used for quantitative analysis of subfoveal ChT. ChT was quantified manually as the distance between the hyperreflective line corresponding to the retinal pigment epithelium and the chorioscleral interface at the subfoveal area. RESULTS: The mean age was 10.6 ± 3.3 years (range 5-17) in the hyperopic group, 10.7 ± 3.3 years (range 5-17) in the amblyopic group, and 11.2 ± 3.3 years (range 5-17 years) in the emmetropic group (p = 0.627). The hyperopic and amblyopic groups had significantly thicker choroid compared to the emmetropic group (p1 = 0.005 and p2 = 0.006, respectively). However, there was no significant difference between the hyperopic and amblyopic groups concerning subfoveal ChT (p = 0.857). In addition, covariance analysis showed that although SE was independently associated with subfoveal ChT (p = 0.014), amblyopia had no significant independent effect on subfoveal ChT (p = 0.671). Further, subfoveal ChT had weak correlations with the axial length (r = -0.297, p = 0.001) and SE (r = 0.274, p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Hyperopia was associated with subfoveal ChT, whereas amblyopia had no independent significant effect on subfoveal ChT in our study population.