Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>
Objective To investigate the impact of metabolic status on choroidal
thickness (ChT) in healthy subjects, patients with obesity, and type 2
diabetes.</jats:p><jats:p>
Design and Methods Fasting blood glucose, insulin, insulin-like growth
factor-1 (IGF-1), and ChT measured by optical coherence tomography were assessed
in healthy normal-weight (n=17), obese participants (n=20), and
obese participants with T2D (n=16).</jats:p><jats:p>
Results ChT increased in obese participants and obese participants with
T2D as compared to healthy normal-weight participants (P<0.0001). A
negative correlation was observed between IGF1 and ChT
(r=−0.268, P=0.050) for all cohorts. Furthermore, body
mass index (BMI; R2=0.209; P=0.002;
beta=0.388) and model assessment-estimated insulin resistance (HOMA-IR;
R2=0.074; P=0.015; beta=0.305) were
independent variables of ChT, explaining 20.9 and 7.4% of its variance
(both p<0.016), whereas age, sex, and IGF-1 were not significant
confounders of ChT (p>0.975).</jats:p><jats:p>
Conclusion ChT is associated with metabolic characteristics,
i. e., BMI and HOMA-IR. Due to the key role of choroidal function in
retinal physiology, future studies are needed to evaluate whether metabolic
traits, ChT, and potential metabolic eye complications are mechanistically
linked.</jats:p>