Comparison of the choroidal structural components and choroidal vascularity index between patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and healthy controls

•The choroidal vascularity index (CVI) is an imaging tool for the analysis of the structure of the choroid by quantifying both vascular luminal and stromal choroidal components.•In our study, we compared the CVI, luminal area (LA), stromal area (SA), and total choroidal area (TCA) measurements between the eyes of patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and healthy individuals to evaluate choroidal structural changes, and the effect of OSAS on choroidal vascularity.•According to our results, the mean CVI value was significantly lower in the patients with OSAS than in healthy controls; although, no significant difference was found for the SA, LA, and TCA measurements between the groups. To compare the choroidal structural components and choroidal vascularity index (CVI) between patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and healthy controls. The choroidal images of the eyes of patients with OSAS and healthy controls, which were obtained by using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT), were binarized into luminal area (LA) and stromal area (SA) using the ImageJ software. CVI was calculated as the ratio of LA to the total choroid area (TCA). The CVI, LA, SA, and TCA measurements were compared between the groups. Seventy-one eyes of 57 patients, 33 eyes of 27 patients with OSAS and 38 eyes of 30 healthy individuals, were included. The mean age of all patients was 46.77±9.75 (range, 30–67) years. There was no statistically significant difference for age, sex, axial length (AL) or the side of the eyes between the groups (p>0.05). The mean body mass index (BMI) of the patients was significantly higher in the OSAS group (p0.05). In our study, CVI was found to be lower in patients with OSAS than in the healthy controls. Further studies with larger sample sizes are required to evaluate the role of CVI in OSAS.