Choroidal response due to heavy physical exercise and its correlation with changes of the neuroretina

Abstract

Purpose : There is some evidence pointing towards outer retinal changes due to physical exercise. We could previously show the thinning of the outer retina and outer segments both in professional sportsmen and young amateurs shortly after excessive physical strain. In the current analysis we aim to provide evidence about choroidal changes in the same cohort and their effect on the observed outer retinal thinning.

Methods : Altogether 30 eyes of 15 professional sportsmen (Group S) and 16 eyes of 11 control adults (group C) were enrolled in our study, with a mean age of 22±5 and 25±5 years, respectively. We performed macular scanning with a Spectralis SD-OCT device before and following a vita maxima-type physical straining exercise until complete fatigue. OCT follow-up examinations were made 1, 5, 15, 30 and 60 minutes post exercise (p.e.). The OCT images were exported and analyzed using OCTRIMA 3D software and the thickness of 7 retinal layers was calculated, along with semi-automated measurement of the choroidal thickness. One-way ANOVA analysis was performed, the level of significance was 5%. The study was approved by the Science and Research Ethics Committee of Semmelweis University (272/2013).

Results : There was no significant change in choroidal thickness over time in both groups; however, there was a tendency towards thinning in the central subfield 1 minute and even more pronounced at 30 minutes p.e. in both groups S and C. The absolute changes in choroidal thickness in the central subfield did not show any correlation with the thickness changes of the intraretinal layers.

Conclusions : It seems that the changes of the outer retina induced by physical exercise are not directly linked with structural/thickness changes of the choroid as we previously hypothesized. However, in this study we did not measure changes in choroidal blood flow that could still be the underlying reason for the outer retinal changes described earlier by our group.

This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.