Diurnal variation in choroidal thickness and body temperature

Abstract

AIM: To investigate how body temperature(BT)affects choroidal thickness(CT)according to measurements taken with enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography(EDI-OCT).METHODS: In this prospective study, the CT of 41 healthy patients was measured hourly from 9:00 to 17:00 at the fovea(SF-CT), 500 μm nasal to the fovea(N-CT), and 500 μm temporal to the fovea(T-CT)using EDI-OCT. BT was also measured hourly from 9:00 to 17:00 using a non-contact infrared thermometer. Possible correlations between diurnal variations of CT and BT were evaluated.RESULTS: SF-CT values significantly differed between measurements at 9:00 and 13:00(P=0.021), 9:00 and 14:00(P=0.012), 9:00 and 16:00(P=0.048), and 9:00 and 17:00(P=0.002). N-CT values also significantly differed between measurements at 9:00 and 13:00(P=0.004), though T-CT did not significantly vary during the 8h period(P >0.05 for all).CONCLUSION: CT is not significantly associated with hourly changes in BT from 9:00 to 17:00.

Keywords

• body temperature
• choroidal thickness
• diurnal variation
• diurnal variation