Volume : VIII, Issue : XII, December - 2019

The Effect Of Chronic Alcohol Use On Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness

Dr. Debabrata Das

Abstract :

Aim: To evaluate the effect of chronic alcohol intake on peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and to find any association between severity of alcohol addiction with the RNFL thickness. Methods: This was a case control study of 70 cases of alcohol addiction for more than five years and 70 age–matched normal healthy persons as controls. The cases were interviewed with structured questionnaires of Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) to detect the severity of alcohol use. The peripapillary RNFL thickness was measured by 3D optical coherence tomography (OCT). Observation: A total of 137 eyes of 70 cases of alcohol users and 139 eyes of 70 controls were included in the study. The average RNFL thickness of 95.12±5.02 µm in chronic alcoholic users was found to be statistically significantly thinner compared to 99.37±3.08 µm of the control group (p< 0.0001). The measurements of the RNFL thickness 78.45±8.7 µm in temporal quadrant of chronic alcoholic users was statistically significantly (p<0.0001) thin from 83.55±11.17 µm of control group. The measurements of the RNFL thickness in superior, inferior and nasal quadrant were not statistically significant between chronic alcoholic users and control groups (p =0.0779, p=0.1196 and p=0.0618 respectively). Thinning of RNFL in all the quadrants were more in cases with increase severity of alcohol use than others, though it was not statistically significant. Conclusion: In this study, average and temporal quadrant RNFL thickness was thinner in chronic alcoholics than the controls. We therefore conclude that measurement of RNFL by OCT in chronic alcoholic cases could be a useful technique for early detection of retinal nerve fiber loss.

Keywords :

Article: Download PDF    DOI : 10.36106/ijsr/0520260  

Cite This Article:

THE EFFECT OF CHRONIC ALCOHOL USE ON RETINAL NERVE FIBER LAYER THICKNESS, Dr. Debabrata Das INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH : Volume-8 | Issue-12 | December-2019

Number of Downloads : 502

References :